


Heart and Soul

by Haleyb333



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-11 01:52:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 36,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7020877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haleyb333/pseuds/Haleyb333
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Growing up in a world in which soulmates have identical tattoos has taught everyone a different lesson, affecting them each in a very different way. Nobody expected that Clary Fray and Simon Lewis being thrown into the Shadow World would twist their beliefs about soulmates in such a drastic way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1: Clary

Clary had always been fascinated by the whole soulmate idea that the entire world seemed to revolve around. Her mother had always told her to never believe in silly things such as that, but Clary couldn't help but fantasize about the moment that she met her soulmate. She knew there was no harm in thinking about whoever her soulmate might be. If he was her soulmate, then why would there be any harm in finding him? She knew her mom's cautions were mostly because she simply didn't want Clary to grow up.

But Clary wanted to know everything there was to know about it. Legend had it that soulmates had identical tattoos somewhere on their bodies. These tattoos were supposed to resemble something that would be of significant meaning to them. Clary had always wanted to know exactly how they worked, but no one could ever seem to give her that answer. Everyone was born with one, so people told her it was like a birthmark. But she knew that no two people had identical birthmarks.

So Clary had always been in love with just the idea of it in general. She'd watched people around her find their soulmates and fall in love, and she wished every day that she would get the chance to find hers as well. Her own tattoo was a small star, situated directly on top of her ring finger so that if she wore a ring, it could not be seen. She's always loved it, though she still had no idea what the significance of it was supposed to be.

She'd drawn it enough times to know the intricate design of it even with her eyes closed. It's swooping lines inside had always made her feel as though they might represent what love would be like when she found it. They were so smooth and held so much excitement in them that every time she looked at it, Clary wanted nothing more than to go out and hunt for her soulmate, wherever he might be.

Over the years, she'd gone through different phases, sometimes hiding her tattoo with a ring, others leaving it out in the open. But she never stopped looking at everyone's hands as soon as she met them for the first time. Throughout the years, she'd often found herself wishing that her best friend, Simon, would have been her soulmate. That would have saved both of them a lot of trouble.

But Simon's tattoo was a light saber, something Clary never let him live down, and it was on his right wrist. Simon had always said that whoever his soulmate was had to be someone who was a huge nerd just like him. He dreamed of meeting his soulmate somewhere like Comic-Con, whereas Clary dreamed of meeting hers somewhere like Paris.

She was currently waiting on Simon, idly sketching something that she really didn't have any idea where she was really going with. She couldn't wait to force Simon to go to Pandemonium that night, no matter how much Simon hated the club. She knew that Simon would do almost anything for her, especially when it was her birthday.  
.  
.  
.  
Stepping into Pandemonium that night seemed like a dream to Clary. She didn't know why she loved the club so much, she only knew that she did. She smiled at Simon since they could barely hear one another over the music, trying to thank him for coming without saying anything at all. She didn't know how long they'd been there when Simon wondered off to get them drinks. He'd never been much of a dancer, and Clary knew that they'd probably been on the dance for long enough already to make him start to fidget.

What happened next, however, plummeted Clary into something she had no idea of how bad it was. When she first saw the gorgeous blond boy, she thought she might be dreaming. When she saw the dark haired girl and boy following closely behind him, she had to blink several times to make sure that she wasn't just seeing things. They looked so out of place that she had no idea how no one else was noticing them. When they broke off from each other, the girl going the opposite direction of the two boys, Clary decided that she needed to follow one of them. There was obviously something going on; they were planning something, and Clary felt compelled to find out exactly what it was.

She knew without a doubt that she was going insane when she realized that no one else could see the three mysterious kids. As Simon began dragging her away from them, Clary impulsively looked down at the blond, Jace's, finger, but was immediately dismayed to see a large ring on his finger, so she knew that even if he'd had the star, she wouldn't have been able to see it.

"Clary, listen to me!" Simon was still trying to yell at her over the music as her eyes quickly darted to the hands of Isabelle and Alec, apparently the names of the other two kids with Jace. When Clary realized that Alec's hand was blank and Isabelle's wrist was covered by her whip, however that thing actually worked, she returned her attention back to Simon. "There's no one there, Clary. Are you okay? Please talk to me, Clary."

Instead of attempting to speak to Simon over the music, Clary yanked him as well as her eyes away from whoever these people that boy they killed had called Shadowhunters were and toward the door. Once outside, Clary tried to explain everything that she had seen and heard, but Simon continued to look at her as though she was insane. So she stopped trying, she just told Simon that she thought she was a bit tired and got him to take her home.  
.  
.  
.  
The next night, Clary had wanted nothing more than to just stay home, still trying to figure out whether or not she was going insane. But when Jace showed up at Java Jones's, Clary knew that there was more going on than that. When she'd followed Jace outside, she'd tried to get him to tell her everything that was going on, but with every answer she got out of him, she only became more confused. When he looked her up and down, Clary silently thanked herself for wearing her ring, not wanting Jace to see her tattoo when she was so vulnerable already.

"I need you to come with me, Clary," Jace said, his voice clearly purposely soft. She looked back toward Java Jones's, her mind flashing to Simon. "This could be very important. I need to keep you safe." Clary felt a flash of anger toward Jace at the thought that she couldn't take care of herself, but before she could say anything to him, her phone began ringing, and that's when all hell broke loose.  
.  
.  
.  
From the moment she began racing home when her mom told her not to come back to the moment she woke up in what she later learned was the Institute, Clary's mind worked far faster than she could keep up. So when she was finally left on her own for a few minutes, she could hardly keep up with what had happened. She kept going over and over everything in her mind, trying to make sense of it all, but the more she analyzed things, the less sense they actually made to her.

"I want to see Simon," she said when Isabelle came to help her find better clothes to change into. Isabelle looked at her as though she was crazy, which was apparently becoming a terribly common occurrence in Clary's life lately. "I'm sure he's terribly worried. I need to call him," Clary attempted to clarify.

Isabelle slung clothes at her before finally replying. "I don't know who Simon is, but we can't let you have any sort of outside contact until Hodge speaks with you and clears you. That's why you need to wear my clothes until we can figure out what the best course of action is and go back to your apartment as soon as we possibly can." Clary wanted to say something in return, but she simply let Isabelle turn her over to Jace who remained silent all the way to the library.  
.  
.  
.  
Visiting with Hodge had taken a lot out of Clary, and the fact that the Shadowhunters had taken her phone and forbidden her from calling Simon had caused Clary to search the Institute for a pencil and some paper. She knew the only thing that could calm her down and take her mind off of everything that was going on was drawing, not to mention the fact that her fingers were all but itching to hold a pencil. When she heard the music coming from just a bit down the hall, however, her mind immediately switched to her curiosity of it.

Stepping into the room was like stepping into a different world. Seeing Jace at the piano was much different from seeing him out in his gear. Where he was focused and hard when he was on a mission, Jace was terribly gentle with his hands on the keys. He seemed to be an entirely different Jace from the one she thought she knew.

As Clary stepped forward, Jace spoke up, not looking away from the piano or pausing his playing in any way. "Alec?" he asked, and Clary could hear the tenderness in his voice, a sort of tenderness that greatly surprised her. "Alec is that you?" When Clary didn't say anything, Jace turned around, his fingers still expertly moving over the keys. A smile flashed across his face when he realized who it was, but Clary wasn't looking at his face any longer.

Jace had moved just enough for Clary to see his hands, and what she saw caught her but such surprise that she became speechless. Clary reached to twist on her own ring as she realized that Jace wasn't wearing his for the first time since she'd met him. She hadn't really expected anything to be there, but Clary was certain she would know her star anywhere. Clary had just never expected to see her star where it was now: on Jace's finger.


	2. Chapter 2: Jace

For as long as Jace could remember, he'd never believed in the whole soulmate legend. His father had always taught him that such legends were silly nonsense made up to explain something that was unexplainable, much like mundane science. So as soon as his father had given him the Wayland ring, he'd taken to wearing it almost every second of every day, even when he was fighting. He hated his tattoo more than anything else, and, although the ring was now a painful reminder of what had happened to his father, the ring was the best way to keep from seeing it every time he looked down at his hand.

But the one time Jace found that he couldn't wear the ring was when he was playing the piano. He'd always felt exposed when playing, as though his soul was on display for anyone who watched him. The ring only made him uncomfortable; it kept his fingers from moving freely enough to play properly, to play with the passion that he always found in himself. When he'd first arrived at the Institute, Isabelle and Alec had relentlessly questioned him about his tattoo, but telling them would have meant becoming vulnerable to them, so he tried to hide it for as long as possible.

Jace had finally shown Alec after their parabatai ceremony, and that was when he stopped wearing the ring to play the piano as well, figuring that he had no reason to hide it any longer. He assumed that Alec had told Isabelle what it was because she never bothered him about it again. When Alec developed the habit of either reading or simply taking a nap every time he played the piano, Jace had the urge to cover his tattoo again. But the more Alec did this, the more Jace realized that it was somehow comforting to Alec, but he was surprised to realize that it was also calming to him. Having his parabatai by his side seemed to change his outlook on almost everything, but the one thing that never changed was the fact that he hated his tattoo.

For the first little bit, Alec tried to convince Jace that there was some sort of truth to the legend, but after Jace rejected the idea over and over, Alec finally gave up. He could always see the hope in Alec's eyes, but lately that hope had become mixed with more and more disappointment. Jace knew he wasn't likely to ever believe in the legend, but he had to admit that he loved the way Alec held onto it. It somehow helped Alec keep his youthfulness in a world that was so cruel to him in almost every other way.

So when Clary started to pull her own ring off, Jace couldn't help but push her away. From the look on her face, he knew exactly what was under her ring, and he didn't want to see it at all. He knew he probably should have listened to her; he knew he probably should have at least tried to be gentle with her. But that was something he couldn't seem to do, no matter how hard he tried.

"Don't Clary," he said, standing up and moving away from the piano as Clary motioned for him to look. "I don't want to see it." He watched as the look on her face switched from hope and joy to confusion and pain. Jace reached for his own ring, shoving it on his finger with much more force than was necessary. He should have known, however, that Clary wouldn't give up so easily.

"I don't understand, Jace," she said, her voice full of desperation. She grabbed his wrist as he tried to move past her, and for a fleeting moment, Jace thought of how easily he could get away from her, but he didn't want to use that kind of force on someone who wasn't trained, so he let her hold onto him. "Can't we just talk about this?" she asked, her voice softer than it had been just moments before. "I've waited years for this and you're just going to shove me away like it doesn't matter?"

Jace stared at her for a few moments before finally resigning himself to the fact that Clary wasn't going to stop until they'd at least talked about it. He sat himself down on the couch that Alec could so often be found on when he was playing piano, and he silently wished for Alec to be by his side, but Jace knew that his parabatai couldn't help him now, no matter how much he wished that Alec could. "There's nothing to talk about, Clary," he said, his voice tight and controlled. "I don't believe in the legend. That's all there is to this."

Clary's expression changed to disbelief, and Jace had to look down at his ring, wishing with all his heart that he could erase the tattoo. "Why don't you believe it?" she asked, her voice suddenly sharp and forceful. "Are you too afraid that it's true? Ever since I've come here you've acted like it pains you to love people. Even with Alec you act like you can't be bothered by it. Isn't he supposed to be your parabatai, whatever that is? Is that what this is about? That you're just scared?"

Before Jace knew what he was doing, he was on his feet. "Do not talk to me of my love for Alec," he practically spat at her, standing over Clary and looking down on her with what he knew was all but hate in his eyes. "There is so much about this world you do not understand. But there is much more that you don't understand about me. Do not assume that I do not love Alec just because I don't express my love in the same ways that you do."

Clary looked up at him in a way that told him she wasn't going to back down, and Jace internally flinched at the way he found that slightly endearing, no matter how annoying it was at the moment. "I simply don't believe that if we were soulmates we would only be able to fall in love because of some silly tattoos," Jace continued, trying to soften his voice. "If we were supposed to be together, we'd end up together without these stupid things." He watched as Clary flinched as he called the tattoos stupid.

Jace thought that Clary was going to simply give up, finally broken down by what he was saying. But when Alec appeared in the doorway, she seemed to change her mind about what she had been planning on saying. "We're not done with this conversation, Jace," she said, turning toward Alec instead. "I want to see Simon. I'm done asking." At first, Alec simply looked at Jace as though he wanted nothing more than to get rid of Clary.

"We can't take you anywhere until we know more about what's going on," he said, raising his hand when it looked as though Clary was going to speak up. "You've risked our lives already. I'm not going to allow you to risk them again just for the chance to see some mundane." Jace looked over at Alec in surprise, his voice had been much harder than it normally was, and Jace couldn't seem to figure out why. Sure, what had happened with Clary so far had been dangerous for all of them, but being Shadowhunters was dangerous.

When Clary started to argue, Alec cut her off once more, his eyes curiously landing on Clary's hand. "I said no. Hodge said no. We've all told you no. The mundane will be much safer if you left him out of this. Or is it that you don't actually care about keeping the people you love safe?" Jace scanned Alec's face as Clary stormed out of the room. He wasn't sure he'd ever heard Alec be so harsh; cold and focused, yes, but harsh was a much different story.

When Alec walked in and sat down, Jace moved back to the piano. "What kind of conversation was she talking about?" Alec asked, but Jace forced himself to ignore the question for several minutes, at least until Alec spoke up again. "Why are you still wearing your ring?" he asked, his voice much softer than it was before. Jace closed his eyes as he kept playing, mostly because he knew if he didn't he would look over at Alec and see the pity in his eyes.

The only thing Jace knew to do was to explain everything that had just happened, knowing that Alec wouldn't give up until he figured it out, not after he'd noticed something like Jace leaving his ring on. "I don't get it either, Jace," Alec replied when Jace had finished explaining things. "You've always been so opposed to this entire soulmate idea, and I've never been able to figure out why. Just put yourself in her shoes, Jace. At least try to think of what it might be like for someone who actually believes in it. What it might be like when they find the person who's supposed to be their soulmate."

"It's not that easy," Jace abruptly said, whirling around on Alec, quickly on his feet, not caring about the piano anymore. "I don't want to hear this from you, too. You've always had a childlike belief in this." Alec flinched, and Jace knew it was most likely from his tone and not what he was actually saying. "Why do you care anyways?" he asked, trying to soften his voice.

Alec shook his head in the fashion that he generally did when Jace was doing something he deemed outrageous. "You're my parabatai," he said, his voice also softer than it had been. "Your happiness is my happiness," he finished, as if that perfectly explained everything. Jace sat back down on the piano bench, but he didn't turn back to the piano itself; he was too fixated on his parabatai, looking curiously at Alec, worried about his earlier actions.

"Forget about me for a second," he said, watching Alec's face change ever so slightly. "What was all of that about?" Jace motioned toward the door, knowing that Alec would understand exactly what he was talking about. "With Clary, I mean," he specified, even though it was unnecessary. "You were almost cruel with her, Alexander. I've never seen you like that."

Alec shifted uneasily in his seat, looking down at his foot in the nervous way that he always had. It was a habit of his that Jace had quickly picked up on when he had first come to the Institute. Alec's tattoo was situated on his left foot, and when he became uncomfortable, he couldn't help but look down at it. Jace knew that Alec's tattoo was the reason he'd chosen his weapon, the bow and arrow, in the first place. The tattoo was a highly intricate arrow, and his fascination with it had led him to believe that he was meant to use a bow and arrow as his weapon.

"I'm just trying to keep you and Isabelle safe, that's all," Alec replied, still looking down at his foot. "We don't know what's going on, and we can't afford to risk anything right now. If Valentine is really behind all of this, then going out with Clary isn't safe for any of us." Jace couldn't seem to argue with that, but he'd always thought of Alec as the gentle one; no matter how focused and calculating he became, he was always gentle with people. Before Jace could begin to point that out, Isabelle burst in the room, holding out what looked like a flyer for Alec to see.

"Magnus Bane," she said, as if that explained everything. "If anyone will know what's going on with Clary or will know how to get information about it at all, it will be Magnus. He's the High Warlock of Brooklyn." Alec looked down at the flyer for a moment before he began shaking his head, and Jace automatically knew what the flyer was for. The only thing Alec would resist going to would be a party. "Dress to impress boys," Isabelle said, confirming Jace's assumptions. "We've got a party to crash."


	3. Chapter 3: Isabelle

Isabelle had always thought of herself as being halfway between Jace and Alec in many different respects, but especially when it came to the whole soulmate legend. Where Jace was so desperately against the idea in general, Alec was hopelessly in love with it. She had always seemed to be right in the middle the both of them, seeing as she didn't exactly reject the idea completely, but she was certainly a bit skeptical of it. Izzy certainly wanted it to be true, she often dreamed of what her own soulmate might be like, but she had to admit that she wasn't sure she'd ever find whoever hers was supposed to be.

She'd very quickly taken to wearing her whip almost constantly because of it. Izzy hadn't really chosen the whip because of her tattoo in the way Alec had chosen the bow because of his. But the whip certainly didn't hurt after she'd chosen it. The problem wasn't exactly that she wanted to hide it, but rather, she didn't exactly know what it was. No one she had ever met knew what it was, and after so many years of questions, she finally became tired and began simply covering it up.

Whatever her tattoo was, it had always slightly reminded Izzy of a stele, but she had the sinking feeling that it was something from the mundane world. What looked like the hilt of it had a button on it, and she often wondered what that button actually did. The rest of what came out of the hilt was utterly simple, almost like a stick, except for the fact that it was completely smooth, entirely cylindrical. Jace had often made many different jokes about what the shape of it might actually look like. But Izzy had always held the hope that the moment she understood what it was would likely be the most defining moment of her life.

As she got herself ready for Magnus Bane's party, she couldn't help but think about the look on Jace and Alec's faces. She knew there was something going on, but finding out what it was would have taken up valuable time, and she knew that she could later corner Alec about it. When Clary came in the room, however, she felt compelled to look down at Clary's hand, wondering if the legend could be the cause of whatever was happening with Jace and Alec. Clary's finger had a ring on it at the moment, so Isabelle quickly looked away before Clary had time to notice her staring.

When Isabelle started to help Clary figure out what she should wear, Clary began talking in the way that Izzy knew mundanes always felt they had to. When Clary asked Izzy a question much deeper than small talk, Izzy tried to keep herself calm by staying occupied with their clothes. "Does Jace know how Alec really feels about him?" she asked, her voice not betraying anything other than simple curiosity.

Izzy shook her head, trying to come up with the right thing to say, knowing there was no point in denying it. "No, Jace isn't exactly the most observational. But he can't know, Clary. At the very least, he can't hear it from me or you." Clary nodded, her face serious, and Izzy knew she had to trust her because that was the only option she had.

"What about the legend?" Clary asked, her expression changing to one of deep thought. "Surely if Alec believes in that he wouldn't want to end up so hurt by it. He and Jace don't have the same tattoos, so does Alec not believe in it?" Izzy froze for several seconds. Alec's tattoo was on his foot, so that meant that it was terribly unlikely that Clary had seen it. That also meant that she'd seen Jace's tattoo, and Izzy knew Jace only took his ring off when he was playing piano. Her eyes unwillingly flicked to Clary's own hand once more, and she idly wondered if Clary's ring might be hiding a tattoo much like Jace's hid his.

"Oh, trust me, Alec believes in it," Izzy responded, holding up one of her dresses to see if it would fit Clary. "It's just that Alec loves with all his heart. When he loves, he loves with everything he has. He couldn't help but fall in love with Jace. And once he fell, he couldn't pick himself back up, legend or no legend." Izzy took her whip off and placed it on her bed as she got ready to help Clary with her hair, knowing that it would only get caught in Clary's hair and making things much more difficult.

As Izzy reached up to take hold of Clary's hair, she paused when Clary gave her a strange look. "It's my tattoo," she explained, already put off by it. "I have no idea what it is, so I'm just glad that my whip hides it most of the time." Clary smiled as Isabelle began fixing her hair, and Izzy finally realized that she was just mundane enough to likely know what it was.

"It's called a lightsaber, Izzy," she said, the tone of her voice something that Isabelle couldn't read. "It's a weapon. Almost like one of your seraph blades." Izzy narrowed her eyes, wondering how the mundanes could have a weapon the Shadowhunters didn't know about, but Clary seemed to see that, so she began speaking once more. "They're from a movie series. Trust me, you probably don't want to know."

Izzy acknowledged the fact that she likely didn't want to know what was going on. But then Clary spoke up again, and Izzy felt her heart hit the floor. "I think you should let me call Simon. You know, the mundane?" Izzy had heard Clary talk about her best friend much more than once, but she wasn't sure what he had to do with their current situation seeing as taking him to Magnus's was not a good idea in any way. "I think you're going to want him to meet us at Magnus Bane's. Simon's got the same tattoo."  
.  
.  
.  
"This is ridiculously dangerous," Alec mumbled as they began their walk to Magnus's. Isabelle had to admit that he was right, but she was more curious than she'd ever been before. "If anything happens to this mundane, it will be on us, Izzy, you know that." She nodded; Alec was generally right when it came to matters of safety. But right now, she only wanted to see the mundane for herself, still not believing that her soulmate was actually a mundane.

"It's better he's a mundane than a Downworlder," Alec continued, seemingly reading Izzy's thoughts. "At least you don't have to worry about the Clave." Again, Izzy had to admit that Alec was right, but verbally admitting it would only encourage Alec. What Alec was referring to wasn't exactly written in the Law, but everyone took it to be Law. Shadowhunters were forbidden to have Downworlders as soulmates, which had never made any sense to Izzy, seeing as it wasn't exactly a choice. They could date, or even marry, any Downworlder, as long as that Downworlder wasn't their soulmate.

If the Shadowhunter and Downworlder in question were ever discovered to be soulmates, the Downworlder would be arrested and put on trial. That part never made any sense to Izzy either, but all of the Downworlders put on trial had always either been sentenced to either death or life in the Clave's prison. For those who were sentenced to prison, most of them took their own lives, especially those who were immortal. The Clave acted like the trial was a test. Their solution to this was to come up with the newest, most inventive ways to kill the Downworlder.

The part of the trial that was the test was to ask the Shadowhunter if they would be willing to take whatever punishment had been invented for their soulmate. This was usually something that would kill the Downworlder, but it would only be excruciatingly painful to the Shadowhunter. The only time jail was sentenced was if the Shadowhunter had a health issue that could not be worked around. So far in history, no Shadowhunter had ever said yes to this question, even though it would mean the release of their soulmate, and Izzy had the feeling that it was because they knew the social upset that would occur if they did. So Isabelle knew how right Alec was that her soulmate was apparently a mundane.

Simon wasn't there when they reached Magnus's, so they opted on having Alec wait for him outside while they went ahead and tried to find Magnus. Magnus Bane was terribly quirky, and Izzy immediately liked him, finding him almost charming. "And why do you suppose that I'm the one who knows the answer to all of this?" Magnus asked when they'd explained why they were there in the first place.

"At first I thought it was just because you're the High Warlock," Izzy replied, analyzing every change in Magnus's expression. "But then the look of recognition on your face when you first saw Clary told me that you know much more than we first thought you did. So we're going to need you to tell us what exactly is going on here. Otherwise we'll have to report to our parents, and I know that you don't exactly have a wonderful past with them." Izzy watched as Magnus slowly resigned himself to the fact that she was right.

Just as Magnus was getting ready to direct Clary to a room where they could speak in private, Alec showed up with Simon. Her first impression of Simon was that he was completely and utterly mundane. His plain brown eyes matched his messy, plain brown hair. But the longer Izzy looked at him, the more she had to admit that he was more attractive than she usually thought of the average mundane.

When Izzy looked at Simon's shirt, she was forced to finally fully believe Clary. Up until this point, she had slightly doubted what Clary was saying, but when she saw that the person on Simon's shirt was holding what Clary said was a lightsaber, she was forced to understand that this wasn't a game any longer. She stepped over to Simon without listening to Magnus as he asked what a mundane was doing at his party. Izzy grabbed Simon's right hand and pulled his wrist up, looking down at it with slight surprise.

"What's going on?" Simon asked, looking down at his wrist and back up at her with an expression that seemed like he almost desperately wanted his own hunch to be correct. "What's this about?" he asked, his eyes flicking to Clary. Izzy knew that everyone's attention was on them as she moved to start taking her whip off. For once in his life, Jace was completely silent, and Izzy sensed that Magnus was unusually quiet as well. Izzy forced herself to keep from looking at Alec as her whip came off. She watched as Simon's face changed from confusion to joy as he looked down at the tattoo on her wrist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts on the story so far! I hope you're enjoying it as much as I'm enjoying writing it! I may or may not finish the next chapter tonight, but I'm hoping to keep myself from posting it today so I don't do two chapters today, but we'll see!


	4. Chapter 4: Simon

Clary was screwing with him; that was the only viable option. There was no way that the ridiculously gorgeous girl standing in front of him was his soulmate. "Did you get some temporary tattoos made just for the purpose of screwing with me, Fray?" he asked, peeking around this girl to see Clary's gigantic smile. "There's no way this girl is my soulmate. No way. My soulmate's more like, like that guy," he said, pointing to a startling green man who had just appeared beside of the insanely dressed man Clary had been talking to when he first walked in.

"Oh stop acting like you're the victim here," his apparent soulmate said, letting go of his wrist and allowing it to drop back to his side. Simon couldn't help but smile at her, everything about her was intriguing to him. "I'm the one with this nerdy nonsense tattooed on me forever." Simon watched as Isabelle let her whip slide back onto her wrist. There was so much more he wanted to say, but he knew it was no use in their current situation.

It took several long minutes for them to explain everything to Simon, and he went over everyone's names in his head several times. Clary had explained the basics of this whole "Shadow World" thing to him on the phone, so they didn't have to waste any time trying to tell him that the green man (apparently named Ragnor) and Magnus, the man apparently in charge of most things, were warlocks, and that the curiously pale and child-like man that quickly appeared beside of them (apparently Raphael) was a vampire.

He looked around curiously when they were led to a room empty of Magnus's strange party guests. Simon knew his eyes kept flicking to Isabelle, but he couldn't help himself. In all his wildest imaginings, he'd never once pictured his soulmate as someone who looked like she could easily have been hired as a supermodel. But the thing that excited Simon the most about Isabelle was not her looks, but rather the fact that she was so intimidating he felt as though she could kill him in one hundred and one ways before he so much as knew what was going on.

Simon's attention finally momentarily turned away from Isabelle as Magnus actually began explaining the fact that he'd taken Clary's memories. Simon easily observed the ways in which the Shadowhunters communicated with the Downworlders, and it quickly became incredibly obvious to him that they looked down on the Downworlders, but Simon couldn't figure out exactly why that would be. When Isabelle pulled him away from Magnus's room, Simon willingly went, hoping that she wanted to talk about the situation. But when Simon was stupid enough to take a drink from a seemingly friendly vampire before he even had the chance to say something to Isabelle, he knew had jumped far more into the Shadow World than he had ever wanted.  
.  
.  
.  
Ending up back at the Institute after finding himself in the Dumort was like a dream for Simon. He barely knew where he was anymore, all he could feel was the overwhelming sensation that he no longer belonged in the Institute. He knew he wasn't a vampire, that he'd only ingested Raphael's blood, but the more he sat his spare room, the more he felt as though there was no place for him there.

Simon had always thought he'd meet his soulmate at Comic-Con, that they'd have a nice, safe date at a coffee shop right after. But meeting Isabelle had been much more than he wanted to handle, no matter how intriguing or gorgeous she was. For years, Simon had been so consumed by the fact that he and Clary were not soulmates. He'd always thought his feelings for her were real, but then again, he'd never truly thought he would find his true soulmate, so the legend hadn't kept him from hoping that he and Clary might actually work out.

Just as Simon was thinking about going to find Clary, to see what was really going on, what the plan really was, the door opened slowly, and the first thing Simon saw was Isabelle's long, dark hair. He couldn't keep himself from smiling as she entered the room, hiding something behind her back. "So Clary and Jace are apparently nowhere to be found, and I just thought that you might need to relax a bit," she began, obviously trying to keep a smile off of her face as well.

Simon looked at her in what he knew was thinly vailed surprise when she handed him a Star Wars DVD. "There's no point in running away from this," Isabelle explained as she moved to take the DVD toward the TV that was across the room from the bed. "Plus I'm very curious about these lightsabers, so you're going to have to do a lot of explaining."

For the next couple of hours, Simon allowed himself to get lost in spending time with Isabelle, and he was pleasantly surprised. Isabelle obviously didn't care about the plot of the movie, and for the first time in his life, Simon really didn't either. Every now and again, Isabelle would remember that the movie was playing and would ask him a question about whatever happened to be going on at the time. But they mostly talked about themselves, about their lives and their personalities, and the more Simon talked to her, the more he felt she might actually be what he'd been missing all along.  
.  
.  
.  
The feeling Simon got from being with Isabelle stayed with him for the rest of the night, but he knew that trying to find Clary was a mistake as soon as he actually found her. Finding her with Jace completely changed his mood, and Simon knew there was no going back now, not at the moment at the very least. Simon hadn't even considered the thought that Clary might have found her soulmate as well. But the look on Jace and Clary's faces told him that he had been dead wrong.

"What was that Clary?" he asked as Jace left the room almost as soon as they realized he was there. "That guy has been nothing but repulsive since I got here. I don't understand a lot of things that are going on right now, but I really don't understand what's going on with you and Jace." Clary simply looked at him for several seconds, and Simon could see that she was trying to analyze the entire situation before responding.

"Nothing is that simple anymore, Simon," she said, taking a seat on her bed and motioning for Simon to do the same. "When I first got here, I wanted nothing more than to get away and go home. But now that we know Izzy is your soulmate and Jace is mine, we can't really leave even if we didn't have to worry about the whole people wanting to kill me thing." Simon knew she was right, but he couldn't seem to keep himself from hating Jace. He knew it was very likely that he was just overprotective of Clary, but that didn't change his feelings in any way.

"What's with these Shadowhunters anyway?" Simon asked, trying to turn their conversation away from their soulmate situation. "They act like they're God's gift to the world and everyone else is just here for decoration. The way they've treated the Downworlders even since I've been here is appalling. Are they just jealous because they don't have magic like warlocks or strength like vampires?"

Clary shook her head in a slightly dismissive way. "They're just trying to protect people, Simon. And no, don't say that it's more than that. I don't really know what's going on yet either, but they saved my life, and I can't ignore that." What Clary was saying made sense, but that little fact didn't seem to make any difference to him.

"No, Clary, that's just it. It is much more than that. They want you to think they're protecting the world, and they've already got you convinced." Simon could feel his tone hardening, but he didn't seem to have any control over that. "Isabelle told me about the law that says they can't have Downworlders as soulmates. Tell me, Clary, how something that isn't a choice should ever be punishable by death. If I'm missing something, please tell me because I'm at a terrible loss to understand everything that's going on here. The one thing I do know is that they've got you fooled, that's for sure."

At that, Clary stood up, turning to face Simon faster than he'd ever seen her move before. "You're acting like you can look at this from the outside, but I've got news for you, Simon. I am one of them, and that's not going to change anytime soon." Simon stood up and moved past her. "Wait, where are you going?" she asked as he moved toward the door.

Simon didn't really know the answer to that question himself, but he had to get out of the Institute and it didn't matter where. "I'm going someplace where I won't feel like everyone around me thinks I'm less than them, Clary. Don't worry about waiting up on me, I won't be back here if it's up to me." Simon knew he should have stayed, he knew he wasn't as safe now that he knew about the Shadow World, but he didn't care anymore.

Simon didn't realize that he was walking back toward the Dumort until it was far too late, until he was looking up at the sign, his heart rate quickening with every second that passed. He was so angry that he hadn't even thought about where he was going. Escaping the Shadowhunters was all he had wanted to do. But when a new found blackness washed over him before he could move away from the Dumort, Simon had the sinking feeling that Clary had been right all along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I will most likely finish the next chapter tonight because I physically need to write Alec's chapter, but, no, I will not be posting three chapters in one day! (Alec's chapter may or may not end up being excessively long but we'll see!)
> 
> As always, let me know your thoughts!


	5. Chapter 5: Alec

Alec was so stressed that as soon as he heard Jace playing the piano, he couldn't help but get up and automatically go to what everyone somehow deemed his couch. Listening to Jace play had become such a comfort that it was generally the only thing that could actually relax him when it came down to it. Over the past month, all hell had broken loose, and it was all he could do to somehow hold on to who he was. Or at least, who he thought he was.

First, Clary showed up and turned their entire world upside down, but finding out that Clary and Jace were soulmates was somehow the worst part of Clary's appearance. Alec knew that was ridiculous, that there were many more things that he should worried about, but he couldn't keep from hating the fact that Jace had found his soulmate for several reasons. His own confused feelings for Jace had a lot to do with it, but he pushed those aside for the moment. Alec knew how much the legend meant to Jace, or rather, didn't mean to Jace. He had seen the change in Jace's demeanor after the discovery, and he wanted nothing more than to keep Jace happy, or get Jace back to being happy.

Then there was Simon, who he'd actually found slightly endearing and had actually seemed to make Isabelle happy. Until he was turned into a vampire. Now they were all on pins and needles for several obvious reasons, but Alec didn't want to see what might happen to Izzy if Simon was arrested and put on trial. Since he'd been Turned, Simon had been rather standoffish with them all, and Alec knew that was likely the Downworlder-Shadowhunter dynamics at work.

The most confusing situation, however, was decidedly Alec's situation with Magnus Bane. Ever since they'd gone to Magnus's party, Magnus had been making various attempts to get Alec to go out with him. And it certainly wasn't that Alec didn't want to date Magnus, he had decided that he most definitely did, but he wasn't able to let go of being cautious.

For the majority of his life, Alec had always believed that his soulmate would be a woman. When he'd come to the realization that he was gay, he'd tried to deny it for as long as possible. When Alec had finally come to understand that he couldn't change his sexuality any more than he would be able to change his soulmate, he'd allowed himself to relax much more, to tell Isabelle the truth, to just begin being himself. Falling in love with Jace had been an entirely different story. Falling in love with Jace was forbidden, and it quickly became the source of most of his heartache.

But recently, Alec had come to realize that he might be less enthralled with Jace as he once was, and things had become so much different for him. He'd tried to spend as much time with Magnus as possible without making Magnus think that he was promising too much, that he was making promises he knew he might not be able to keep. But the more time he spent with Magnus, the more he wanted to make every promise he possibly could.

Alec reached for his phone as it began vibrating, smiling when he saw Magnus's name on the screen. Magnus wanted to see him, which was no surprise to Alec, but what actually caused him to get up was the fact that Magnus's text said he had something Alec needed to hear regarding Alec's unwillingness to make things official. "I'm going out," Alec said to Jace as he got up from the couch.

Jace turned around, his hands still playing music in the way that Alec often found annoyingly endearing. "To see Magnus?" he asked, chuckling when Alec froze in place. Alec had no idea who Jace had figured that out, seeing as he had only talked to Isabelle about their relationship. "I notice more things than you think, Alec," Jace continued when Alec couldn't seem to come up with a response. "Don't worry about it, just go. We can talk about it more later; none of this changes anything for me, you know that." The only thing Alec knew to do was quickly give Jace a hug before leaving for Magnus's.  
.  
.  
.  
Alec tried to keep from smiling as Magnus handed him a drink almost as soon as he had walked through the door. It certainly wasn't the first time they'd shared drinks, but Alec couldn't help but think that it was more of a part of whatever Magnus's plan was than anything else. "I've been thinking about what you said, about your reluctance to be with me because of the whole Shadowhunter-Downworlder situation," Magnus said as Alec reluctantly reached out to take the drink. "And I think I have a solution to that little problem."

The only thing Alec could think to do was raise an eyebrow, knowing that his smile was growing larger by the second. "Take a seat first, though, and let's talk about some other pressing issues." Alec knew Magnus was stalling, trying to build up the suspense, but he decided to play along and took a seat across from Magnus. "First, I spoke with Raphael last night, and he said to let you all know that Simon's doing much better. Raphael thinks they'll both be able to help with this entire situation pretty soon."

"How do you know Raphael, exactly?" Alec asked. He'd always been curious as to why Magnus seemed to trust Raphael without any question. When Raphael said it was Camille who had Turned Simon and not himself, Magnus had vouched for him without a second thought. "You two seem to be much closer than I first imagined."

Magnus inclined his head to admit that he was closer to Raphael than it seemed. "I saved his life when we first met," Magnus replied, and Alec had to admit that he wasn't terribly surprised by the statement. "People grow close when they've spent decades together. Even if we've only spent decades together because he's obviously hopelessly in love with my best friend." Alec cracked a smile at the mention of Ragnor. He rather liked Ragnor, who had a wonderful sense of dry humor that Alec adored. The first time they'd teamed up to make fun of Magnus, Alec immediately decided that Ragnor was his favorite of all of Magnus's old friends.

"Okay, now stop stalling, Magnus," Alec replied, moving to set his drink down. He had tried to wait, he had tried to put it out of his mind, but he desperately wanted to know the reason Magnus had asked him to come over in the first place. "I'm not here because you want to talk about Simon, we both know that." Magnus smiled in a way that told Alec he was amused by Alec's need to know what was going on.

Standing up, Magnus began speaking in an almost diplomatic way. "You say you don't want to be with me because you're afraid of the Downworlder part of this relationship, correct?" Magnus turned to watch as Alec nodded, far too curious to speak up and waste more time. "Well, the only reason I can think that you would ever need to be afraid would be if we were soulmates. So I'm going to show you my tattoo and prove to you that there's nothing for us to worry about."

At first, Alec had thought this was a fantastic idea, but when Magnus reached down to take off his left shoe, Alec suddenly had trouble breathing. Sure, the only reason that they should be concerned about being together would be if they were soulmates, but Alec had never considered what he might do if they really were. When Alec looked down to see the arrow on Magnus's foot, he felt his heart hit the floor.

"Nothing to worry about, right?" Magnus asked, looking back at Alec with a very critical expression. Time seemed to freeze for Alec, and at first, he thought of simply leaving. Leaving would keep Magnus the safest. Leaving would mean that Magnus wouldn't ever have to deal with what was actually going on. Alec couldn't truly figure out what he was doing, all he knew was that he was smiling at Magnus over the fear he actually felt.  
.  
.  
.  
Alec shoved his guilt back in place as he got ready for his date with Magnus a few nights later. He knew what he was doing was deceptive, but he'd never actually told Magnus that they weren't soulmates, so he had convinced himself, in a way, that he hadn't lied to Magnus. Alec knew he'd done a lot of things wrong before, but somehow, he couldn't seem to truly convince himself of exactly how wrong it truly was, not when Magnus made it all feel so right.

As soon as Magnus had shown Alec his tattoo, it had felt like a switch inside Alec had been flipped. Before he knew what he was doing, Alec had found himself in Magnus's arms, his lips on Magnus's in the way he'd wanted from day one. The more he thought about it, the more he had no idea what had truly made him hide his own tattoo from Magnus, but he knew there was no going back from it now.

Alec knew how dangerous it would be for Magnus if absolutely anyone found out that they were soulmates, so he'd refrained from so much as telling Isabelle or Jace. He simply thought that if he and Magnus were soulmates, they would fall in love without both of them knowing that fact. He realized that he wanted to protect Magnus at all costs, and if that meant keeping his tattoo from him as long as possible, that's exactly what Alec was going to do.

In his struggles over his sexuality, Alec had never stopped to think what he might do if his soulmate was a Downworlder. He'd been so overwhelmed by the realization that his soulmate would be a man that he hadn't added the fear of that man being a Downworlder as well. The fear that had consumed him after seeing Magnus's tattoo had overwhelmed him for days, and the more he fell for Magnus, the more fear consumed him. Alec had thought a lot about what his answer would be if Magnus was put on trial and he was asked to take Magnus's place, but he hadn't entirely figured that answer out. He knew what he thought his answer would be, but he'd also once thought he'd never fall in love with his parabatai or fall in love with a man in general. And yet here he was, slowly falling in love with Magnus more and more every day.

He smiled as he reached up to knock on Magnus's door, his smile only widening when Magnus opened it. Jace had made a lot of jokes about the colorfulness of Magnus's fashion sense, but it was something that Alec adored. He looked down in worry at his plain black outfit, but Magnus quickly pulled him in for a soft kiss. "You look absolutely wonderful, Alexander, don't worry," he said, his smile evident in his voice. "I've got a surprise for you tonight, and no, don't argue. I know you hate surprises, just trust me." So Alec did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts! I'm super excited for the next few chapters, so I hope you guys are ready for them because it's gonna be a wild ride for sure!


	6. Chapter 6: Magnus

Waiting up for Alec had been Magnus's idea, but the loner he waited, the more he wished he could simply go to sleep and forget about it all. But he knew that if he backed down now, he would never actually talk to Alec about what they needed to talk about. It had been a couple of weeks since he and Alec had gone to the movies, his "surprise" simply being the joke of a vampire movie he'd known Alec would love to pick apart. He'd told Alec to come over after he finished his mission that night, and with every second that passed, Magnus became increasingly nervous.

Magnus had tried, and failed, to distract himself with reading, and he'd only found himself thinking about his past, overanalyzing way too many things. He knew he was falling in love with Alec. After four hundred years of practice, Magnus knew when he was falling in love, but what had caught him off guard was the fact that he'd never fallen in love with a Shadowhunter until now. His first thought had been that maybe Alec was his soulmate, but when Alec consented to their being together after Magnus had revealed his own tattoo, Magnus lost all hope that they could possibly be soulmates.

During the first half of his life or so, Magnus had hoped with everything he had that he would find his soulmate, fall hopelessly in love, and have the happiest of endings. It had been almost an obsession of his, his hope becoming much closer to a fantasy. Yet when the hope had run out, when he kept searching and searching with nothing even close to luck, Magnus had quickly become bitter about the entire situation. After four hundred years, Magnus had run out of things to make him believe, and he'd utterly convinced himself that he would never find his soulmate.

After deciding that it was a hopeless cause, Magnus had finally been able to allow himself to fall in and out of love over and over again. Once he'd let go of the legend, he'd found it terribly easy to find love almost anywhere. The one thing he had never been able to let go of was the fact that every time he began falling in love with someone new, he hated the moment he had to come out to them as bisexual.

The first time Magnus had admitted this to someone he loved and they had left him because of it, he'd been utterly crushed in every conceivable way. Sure, there were always people who hadn't cared in any way, but Magnus was never able to forget about those who did care. After so long with Alec already, he knew he needed to be honest about everything, that if they were going to stay together for any length of time that they needed to keep from hiding things. But Magnus couldn't fight his nerves, knowing deep down that if Alec reacted terribly to his confession, he would only barely be able to handle it.

He hadn't expected to so quickly care for Alec so strongly, but he knew there was no going back from where they were now. So Magnus had tried to shove down his fears long enough to ask Alec to come over, but the waiting was almost torturous. At first, Magnus thought that he simply wanted Alec to get there, but as soon as the door began opening, Magnus felt his heart rate steadily increase. "Just let me go shower and I'll be right in. I'm disgusting right now," Alec said as he walked in the living room.

"Alexander, please wait," Magnus said, knowing that his voice was almost desperate. "You can shower later, but I need to talk to you. Right now, please." Alec turned in surprise, his eyes quickly filling with pure concern. "If we don't do this now, I don't think I'll find the courage to do so later." Alec still looked confused, but he simply nodded and moved to sit down beside of Magnus, automatically taking hold of Magnus's hand.

"There's something I need to tell you," Magnus continued, looking down at his feet in an almost nervous sort of way. "Something I need to be honest with you about. I need you to just listen to me, please. This is really hard for me, even though it shouldn't be because I've done it more than enough times now." Magnus paused and took a deep breath, forcing himself to look back up at Alec. He relaxed slightly when he saw that Alec's eyes were still only filled with love and concern. Alec simply nodded, squeezing Magnus's hand as if to show as much comfort as possible.

"I've never been very good with words, not when it really comes down to it," Magnus said, looking into Alec's soft blue eyes for the comfort he knew he would find. "I've never figured out any way to say this other than being straightforward about it, so I'm just going to go ahead and say it." Alec looked back at him with open curiosity, and all Magnus could do was power through, knowing that he would have his answer soon enough. "I need you to understand that I'm bisexual. I know you may have had other assumptions, and I'm so very sorry for that, but," Magnus paused when Alec raised his hand to brush his thumb across Magnus's face.

"Don't apologize," Alec said, his voice terribly soft. "You haven't done anything wrong, Magnus." Magnus reached up to take Alec's hand from his face, slowly moving to gently kiss it before moving both of their hands to his lap. "You don't have to be nervous about anything, not with me. I genuinely care about you, Magnus. This doesn't change who you are, it only changes what I know about you." Magnus couldn't help but smile at that, his heart rate already steadying.

For several long moments, Magnus wasn't sure of what he wanted to say. He'd known that Alec was unlikely to react in a negative way, but the last thing he'd ever expected was Alec's gentleness. Out of all the times he'd ever told someone he was with about his sexuality, no one had ever been so gentle. Sure, a lot of them had told him that it was fine, that they didn't mind. But none of them, not a single one, had ever been as kind as Alec was being now.

"You really don't mind?" he found himself asking, his smile widening when Alec immediately began shaking his head. "It's just that I never expected you to respond that way," Magnus said, looking down at their hands wrapped around one another. Magnus didn't know what to say anymore, plus he knew that Alec had to be exhausted, but he looked back up when Alec began speaking once more.

"Magnus, listen to me, please," Alec said, moving to wrap his arms around Magnus, and Magnus couldn't do anything other than lean in and relax into Alec's embrace. "There is nothing you could ever say or do to make me leave you or think less of you. But the very last thing that would ever change how I feel for you is your sexuality." Magnus stayed there for several moments, closing his eyes and allowing Alec's embrace to comfort him in a way he knew he'd never been comforted before.

Before long, however, Magnus realized that Alec was asleep, and Magnus couldn't help but smile, knowing that Alec was terribly exhausted from his mission. Magnus moved as gently as possible, not wanting to wake Alec up, knowing that Alec would feel inclined to stay awake and continue talking. Magnus knew there would be time for thanking Alec in the morning, so he moved to pull Alec's feet up on the couch. At first, Magnus thought about leaving Alec as he was, but in the end, he decided that Alec would be much more comfortable without his shoes.

Magnus took off Alec's right shoe first, trying to move as gently and quickly as possible, looking to make sure that Alec didn't wake up when the first shoe came off. As soon as Magnus removed Alec's left shoe, he knew he'd made the greatest mistake of his life. He hadn't meant to take off Alec's sock with the shoe, but it came off regardless. Magnus stared at the arrow tattoo on Alec's shoe for several long, agonizing moments before all but springing up, heading for the door.  
.  
.  
.  
"Magnus, just calm down, please," Ragnor said the next morning, practically pleading with Magnus in every conceivable way. "Just call him, give him the chance to explain things. He was likely just trying to protect you, and you know that. You're just angry right now, and when you're angry we both know that you do very irrational things. But right now if you do something irrational, it could end up putting your life in danger, so please, just stop and think for a few minutes."

Magnus knew Ragnor was right, but that had never seemed to matter when it came to arguments with Ragnor in general. He was angry, that much was true. Magnus was fairly certain that he had never been so angry with anyone in his life, but that wasn't going to change the fact that Alec had lied to him about what was possibly the most important thing in either of their lives. Magnus had gone to stay with Ragnor, unable to stay anywhere near Alec that night, but now that he was up, he wanted nothing more than to confront Alec about the situation, so he simply ignored Ragnor and headed for the door.

It didn't take long for Magnus to realize that Alec had already left his apartment, so he quickly changed his direction for the Institute. Everything in his body told Magnus that it was an awful idea, that he needed to listen to Ragnor and simply take some time to cool down before finding Alec, but he was unable to do anything other than walk to the Institute, his fury growing with each and every step.

Jace let him in without a second thought and even led Magnus directly to the library to see Alec. Alec froze as soon as he turned to see Magnus, and Magnus knew it was because he knew exactly what was going on, the fact that Magnus had left his shoes off telling him all that he needed to know. "Magnus, let me explain, please," he began talking as soon as Magnus came to a halt before him. "I know you're angry, but let me explain."

Magnus held up a hand, looking down at the floor when he was unable to meet Alec's eyes. "Angry?" he asked, hearing the emotion in his voice. "Let me explain something to you, Alexander. Four hundred years is a very long time to wait for your soulmate. Four hundred years is a very long time for someone to hope beyond hope that they find the person they're meant to be with. Four hundred years is a very long time for someone to build up their dream about their soulmate. Four hundred years." Magnus paused as his voice cracked ever so slightly, finally looking back up to meet Alec's eyes once more.

"Four hundred years, and I finally find my soulmate, and he lies to me about it. He hides it from me like he's ashamed." Magnus could hear the pain in his voice. He moved away when Alec stepped toward him, completely unwilling to listen to anything Alec had to say. "You'll say it's to protect me, but from what exactly, Alexander? From the Clave or from the fact that you're ashamed to have a Downworlder as a soulmate?"

When Alec and Jace remained silent, their eyes on someone behind Magnus, Magnus had the sinking feeling that whoever it was wasn't going to be good news to them. He swallowed the quickly forming lump in his throat when he turned around to see Robert Lightwood. From everything he knew about Robert, Magnus was willing to bet everything he had that Robert wasn't going to be very understanding of what was going on. "I think," Robert began, seemingly reading Magnus's mind. "That he was trying to keep someone from doing this."

Before Alec could reach his father, Robert had already called in the Clave. Magnus knew he could have used his magic to stop Robert, but he couldn't seem to move in any way. He was frozen, not by fear, but by the anger that was slowly turning into sorrow. "I'm sorry, Alexander," Robert was saying, but Magnus barely noticed any of it, his mind already overwhelmed by everything else around him. Robert barely flinched when Alec hit him, and for several moments, Magnus was terribly surprised that the man who had been so gentle just hours ago was capable of raising a hand to touch anyone. "I did this for your own good," Robert finished.

Magnus went silently when the Clave members showed up to take him to the Silent City. He knew he would be held there for the night. Magnus knew they would put him on trial the next afternoon, give him a nice long stay in the Silent City, and wait for night in Idris. He only hoped that Simon and Isabelle would be smart enough to cover their tattoos if they showed up. Magnus met Alec's eyes just before he was dragged out of the room, and Magnus couldn't help but shake his head when Alec mouthed the words, "I'm so sorry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may take a break for tomorrow since I posted two chapters both of the past two days! Let me know your thoughts so far (and, yes, I really do mean that! I love hearing from you guys)! If you like my writing, share it with people you think will like it, too!


	7. Chapter 7: Ragnor

Getting the call from Tessa that Magnus had been arrested hadn't exactly been a surprise to Ragnor. Or at least, it shouldn't have been. After seven hundred years and counting, Ragnor had watched as far too many of his friends were arrested and put to death for finding their Shadowhunter soulmates. But finding out that Magnus had been arrested was an entirely different story. If Tessa had told him that Magnus had been arrested because he'd gotten drunk and desecrated a statue of Raziel, Ragnor wouldn't have had a second thought about it.

But the fact that Magnus had been arrested because Alec was apparently his soulmate made Ragnor's chest squeeze just a bit tighter. The first problem was that Magnus had always been so cautious about being around Shadowhunters. Alec was truly the first Shadowhunter Magnus had ever genuinely let in, and Ragnor had a bit of trouble believing that Alec was his soulmate. It wasn't Alec himself, Ragnor actually adored Alec, though he would never admit that to Magnus. But it was the fact that, after all this time, after Magnus had built so many walls, Ragnor couldn't see how things had so quickly changed.

The real reason the entire situation caused Ragnor to pause for a few moments, frozen by fear, was the fact that, although he had loved and lost way too many friends, Magnus had been by his side the longest of them all. Ragnor had been essentially alone for over three hundred years, or at least in the way that he hadn't had anyone immortal by his side for any length of time. But his friendship with Magnus had lasted almost four hundred years, over half of Ragnor's life. And the thought of Magnus being ripped away from him was enough to keep him from functioning for several minutes after hanging up with Tessa.

"What's wrong?" Raphael asked him as soon as Ragnor opened his door. Ragnor had completely forgotten that Raphael had been planning on coming over, too overwhelmed with his worries about Magnus to truly think about anything else. "Ragnor, you look like you just got a death threat, what's going on?" Ragnor could hear the concern in Raphael's voice, something he knew was rare for Raphael in general.

Ragnor shook his head ever so slightly, but in the end, he gave in and told Raphael exactly what was going on. "Do you really believe it?" Raphael asked. Ragnor hear the worry Raphael tried so hard to hide. Most people wouldn't be able to hear it at all, but Ragnor easily picked up on it, though he knew Raphael would deny that he cared for Magnus if asked.

"That Magnus's soulmate is a Shadowhunter or the legend in general?" Ragnor asked, looking away from Raphael when he knew that he was becoming entirely too worked up about Magnus's situation. Ragnor wasn't entirely sure how he felt about the legend, but he was fairly certain that his feelings were pretty close to Magnus's. After centuries, it was hard to hold on to hope, plus he'd always held a healthy bit of skepticism.

For centuries, Ragnor had gone back and forth between believing in the legend with all his heart and dismissing it as a mere fairy tale. He'd watched Magnus give his heart to people over and over, regardless of the fact that none of them were his soulmate, and he often wondered how Magnus actually managed to do so. Sure, seven hundred years without any true love had gotten a bit lonely from time to time, but Ragnor had finally come to the conclusion that if he was meant to find his soulmate and fall in love, that he would eventually do so. But until he found said soulmate, he had sworn he would never give his heart to others, not in the way that Magnus had.

Ragnor looked over at Raphael with an expression that he hoped was unreadable. He had always tried to keep his heart protected by a wall, and for over six hundred years, it had worked. Until he'd met Raphael. Ragnor had pushed with everything he had to keep from falling for Raphael, but he'd quickly realized that holding himself back from it would be impossible. Even then, he'd only truly admitted it to himself when Magnus had directly asked him about his feelings for Raphael. Ragnor was willing to bet that the only person who would ever know about those feelings would be Magnus, and that was very okay with him.

"I know too well what your stance on the legend is, Ragnor," Raphael replied, and Ragnor smiled in acknowledgement of that. Ragnor had shared much of his thoughts on the legend with Raphael, but the one thing he'd only ever shared with Magnus was his tattoo. Magnus had tried to get Ragnor to share his tattoo with Raphael, but Ragnor couldn't bring himself to do it, knowing how crushed he would be when it only confirmed that the two of them weren't soulmates. Ragnor had always hated his tattoo, a cross on the inner thigh of his left leg. He hated it mostly because he wasn't particularly religious, and he had always hoped that it wasn't a sign that his soulmate would differ from him in that way.

Ignoring the question Raphael had presented, Ragnor turned toward the door once more. "I think we need to go see Alec," he said, suddenly realizing that Magnus's life was completely and utterly in Alec's hands. Ragnor turned away when it seemed as though Raphael was going to try to say something comforting; the last thing he wanted at the moment was to be comforted. Raphael couldn't give him what he really wanted. Raphael couldn't give him Magnus's freedom.  
.  
.  
.  
"I don't understand this Law in the first place," Alec said, looking down at his foot much in the same way that Magnus did when he was nervous. Ragnor softened ever so slightly when he realized this; he hated to admit that he liked seeing such a familiar mannerism on the young Shadowhunter. "I get that the Clave likes to hide their hatred behind the Law, but if this was purely hatred, then we wouldn't be able so much as date Downworlders. There has to be more to it than that, and I want to know exactly what."

Ragnor smiled ever so slightly at the way Alec looked at him, as if Alec knew that Ragnor was just old enough to be one of the few people outside of the Clave who still knew the true reasons for the unwritten Law. "It's a bit complicated," Ragnor said, his smile widening when Alec sat down as though he was ready to listen to anything Ragnor had to say. "Essentially, it creates a bond between the Shadowhunter and the Downworlder, almost like a parabatai bond in a way."

Ragnor was well aware that all eyes in the room were on him, especially Raphael's. Raphael was likely wondering why he'd never heard this before, but Ragnor rarely admitted that he knew it. "It's a very old sort of magic, but if the two are allowed to fall in love, they begin to share each other's powers. When the Clave realized this, they became afraid that if they let this happen, this would allow Downworlders to overthrow them. A warlock with both his magic and the physical abilities of a Shadowhunter is a rather formidable force."

The way Alec's eyes filled with anger made Ragnor terribly happy; he knew that Alec was filling with anger at the Clave, and that told Ragnor that he could likely trust Alec with Magnus's life. "It's always been about hatred, but combine that with fear, and the Clave very quickly became murderers. They've always been about power, and the moment they thought that having Shadowhunter soulmates might give Downworlders a bit of their self-esteem and identity back, they decided they had to ensure that never happened. It's always been about ensuring that they're the superior race. And they're doing a very fine job of it if you ask me."

"This is ridiculous," Alec said, shooting up from his seat faster than Ragnor would have thought possible. "They think that giving Downworlders a few more powers will mess up the order they've created for their world. They think that instilling fear will keep Shadowhunters from standing up for their soulmates." Ragnor slowly nodded; Alec was terribly correct. "They think that if one Shadowhunter stands up for themselves that they'll turn the order inside out. All they think about is their damn order. We'll I've got news for them; it's about to turn inside out."

Everyone was silent, and Ragnor almost felt as though he could hear his own heartbeat. When Ragnor heard someone tell them to get out, he didn't first process the fact that the man was talking to him and Raphael. When he heard Alec yelling at his father to stop, he still hadn't processed the fact that he needed to get out of the situation as quickly as possible. It wasn't until he felt a shooting pain in his leg, blackness quickly overwhelming him, that he realized Robert Lightwood was one of the Shadowhunters who was obsessed with that order.  
.  
.  
.  
It wasn't until Raphael and Alec got him to Catarina's house that Ragnor woke up, automatically wishing he hadn't, the pain almost unbearable. When they placed him on Catarina's couch, Ragnor was surprised when Raphael held onto him, concern filling his eyes. "There was poison on his arrow," Ragnor heard Alec tell Catarina, but he couldn't seem to process it. Not with the pain coursing through his body.

Ragnor barely registered the fact that, to heal him, Catarina stripped him down to his boxers. He didn't register anything until Catarina had eased the pain, but the first thing that Ragnor did register was the fact that Raphael's hand was still in his. "Ragnor," Raphael said, his voice so unusually soft that Ragnor quickly turned to look at him in surprise. The next thing Ragnor realized was that everyone had stopped to look at him, and he had no idea why.

Raphael was shaking his head in a way that told Ragnor he was just as equally surprised. "Ragnor," he repeated once more, his voice barely above a whisper. "There's no way. No. It's not possible." Ragnor looked to Catarina, hoping that she would have an answer, but she simply shrugged, showing that she was as equally confused as he was. Ragnor felt his stomach twist when Raphael finally clarified, almost guilty about momentarily forgetting Magnus and his trial. "Your tattoo," he said, looking down at Ragnor's leg as though this couldn't possibly be happening. "It's mine, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, come talk to me about this story! I'm really happy to finally get to my babies, and I know you're all wanting to find out about both Malec and Clace, but be patient with me while I get the story to where I want it to be!


	8. Chapter 8: Raphael

Raphael couldn't stand the look in Ragnor's eyes. The fact that, although he was in immense physical pain, his eyes could be filled with so much hope and joy was enough to drive Raphael insane. He was highly aware of the fact that Catarina and Alec were looking at him so expectantly, but that fact only served to make him even more uncomfortable. In the end, the only thing Raphael could do was shoot Ragnor and apologetic look and all but sprint for the door. Raphael had no idea where he was going, he just knew that he needed to get out, to be able to think without being expected to do anything else.

Since Raphael knew it had only gotten dark a couple of hours ago, he headed for the one place he knew Ragnor would eventually find him, but he also knew it was the one place that would actually allow him to relax enough to think. No one else but Ragnor would think to look for Raphael in this rundown, half abandoned church. Well, Raphael knew that wasn't strictly true. Magnus was the other person who knew Raphael could walk on holy ground, but seeing as Magnus was currently otherwise engaged, Raphael knew he wouldn't have to worry about anyone finding him until Catarina cleared Ragnor to leave.

The problem wasn't that Raphael didn't want Ragnor to be his soulmate, his feelings on that subject were actually quite the opposite. He simply didn't deem himself worthy of anyone in any way, but certainly not Ragnor. He was certainly not worthy of the kindest person he'd ever met. And Raphael definitely did not think that he could live up to Ragnor's expectations in any way shape or form. He knew too well that Ragnor wanted the legend to be true in every sense.

Raphael had grown up loving his cross, it had symbolized almost everything that he was. But as soon as he was Turned, the cross symbolized everything he had once been, and suddenly he hated it with everything he had. It only served as a reminder of the monster he'd become. So Raphael had sworn to never speak of it to anyone again, and now that he had seen Ragnor's matching tattoo, he knew that had been a terrible mistake. Raphael knew all too well how long Ragnor had waited for his soulmate, and the thought that he had caused Ragnor to wait for almost another century because he'd been ashamed of his tattoo drove Raphael mad.

It wasn't long before Raphael heard Ragnor walking toward him. He didn't need to turn around to know they were Ragnor's footsteps he was hearing. It was that realization that scared Raphael the most. The fact that he knew Ragnor better than he'd ever known anyone, the fact that he felt himself wanting to know Ragnor even better. All of it made him want to run away once more, but he forced himself to stay as Ragnor took a seat beside of him. "Why'd you leave like that?" was all that Ragnor asked, and Raphael was surprised to see that he wasn't angry, that he was more worried about Raphael than anything else.

Raphael shook his head at first, thinking about avoiding the entire conversation, but then he realized that Ragnor would read right through it anyway. "You don't deserve someone like me," he replied, refusing to look over and meet Ragnor's eyes. "I'm broken in every way possible. Every last one. You're so kind and gentle and you deserve someone who isn't broken." Raphael finally did look over when Ragnor chuckled.

"We're all broken in some way, Raphael," he said, his voice gentle in the way that Raphael knew so well. "And we're rarely as broken as we think we are." Raphael looked down at his hands, knowing that there was truth in Ragnor's word, but unwilling to admit that to Ragnor. He hardly moved when Ragnor reached over to take his hand. The thing that surprised him the most about this gesture was that Raphael could tell Ragnor wasn't expecting anything from it, that he was simply trying to comfort Raphael.

"You think you're broken beyond repair, I get that. You've thought that for a very long time." Raphael finally looked back at Ragnor as he continued speaking, his voice so genuine that Raphael couldn't help but meet his eyes. "If you're broken, Raphael, then I want all of you. Every last broken piece. I used to think I was broken, too. But you're the one who made me realize that I might not be as broken as I thought I was. Not because I ever thought of you as broken as well, but because you made me want to be a better man than I'd ever been before."

Ragnor chuckled again when all Raphael could do was squeeze his hand. "I don't know about you," he said, a smile slowly creeping across his face. "But I sure would like to give this a shot." Ragnor was going to say more than that, Raphael knew he was. But before Ragnor could continue, Raphael had to satisfy his sudden urge to close the space between them with a kiss. Raphael was entirely certain that this was the most impulsive thing he'd ever done, but he was also entirely certain it was the most satisfying thing he'd ever done. After so long of shutting himself off from absolutely everyone, allowing himself to melt into Ragnor's touch was more than he'd ever dreamed of.

When they finally pulled apart, Raphael felt a little bit lighter, and he knew that part of that was due to his joy over seeing Ragnor's smile. For several moments, Ragnor simply leaned forward so their foreheads were touching, obviously wanting to hang on to the moment just as much as Raphael wanted to. Before long, however, Raphael realized that they had to get back to the situation at hand, that they would have plenty of time to talk more about this particular situation later. "Do you really think Alec will say yes?" he asked, searching Ragnor's eyes for any drop of hope.

Ragnor sighed and leaned back, clearly annoyed that their whole soulmate revelation time was over. But Raphael could see the fear in his eyes. Raphael knew how scared Ragnor had to be, he knew that Magnus had been by Ragnor's side for centuries, and losing a centuries old friend could not be easy in any way. But Raphael truly admired the strength Ragnor was showing even in the face of something like this. Ragnor slowly nodded, as though he was trying to think his way through the situation. "I think Alec meant what he said. He's a genuine person." Ragnor paused, and Raphael reached over to take his hand again.

"But he also has a lot to lose," Ragnor continued after several seconds of silence. "So I think I want to withhold an opinion at the moment. He was very upset when he said those things. I do think he genuinely cares for Magnus." Raphael had to agree, but both Ragnor and Magnus held a much stronger trust of Shadowhunters than Raphael himself ever had. The last thing Raphael wanted to believe was that Alec would let his soulmate die, but as he motioned for Ragnor to get up, Raphael had trouble convincing himself that a Shadowhunter could do anything other than put themselves about everyone around them.  
.  
.  
.  
Walking into Magnus's trial had been every bit a nightmare as Raphael had thought it would be. He had been terribly thankful that it was taking place far enough into the evening that he could go with Ragnor, knowing that Ragnor did not need to be alone during the trial. Magnus was already in his place in the center of the room, and Raphael was hurt to see Ragnor's smile when his eyes met Magnus's. The one thing Raphael knew would actually be able to break Ragnor was the loss of Magnus, so he found his nerves building as they took their seats and immediately saw Alec coming toward them.

Alec had his little brother, Max, in his arms, and it was obvious that Max didn't want to let go. Raphael guessed that Alec had told his family of his intention to say yes, and Max was certainly against the idea of it. "I was wondering if the two of you could watch him for me," Alec asked as soon as he was near them. Raphael knew that Max adored both Magnus and Ragnor, and from Alec's anxious looks, he clearly knew that his other family didn't need to be trying to take care of Max while worrying about him as well. Ragnor automatically nodded and reached out for Max.

Alec gave his brother a quick kiss before almost forcibly handing him over to Ragnor. As soon as Alec turned away from them, Max relaxed into Ragnor's arms, but Raphael could see the tension in Max's demeanor. Raphael watched in silence as Alec moved to find Jace and Isabelle. It was obvious that Isabelle had been crying, and when Jace and Alec finally hugged, Raphael had to look away. He didn't know what was about to happen, but what he did know was that Alec was preparing himself for maximum pain. Or worse.

There was no precedent, so Raphael had no idea what would really happen. The Clave had always claimed that they wouldn't actually kill the Shadowhunter if they answered yes, but Raphael knew they had no mercy. Alec saying yes to taking Magnus's place would upset the entire Shadowhunter-Downworlder balance, and Raphael was willing to bet that the Clave would act as irrationally as always. "Will he be okay?" Max asked when he turned around in Ragnor's arms. Raphael watched as Ragnor simply nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat. He reached over and placed a hand on Ragnor's arm, attempting to give any comfort he could.

When the trial commenced, Raphael easily sensed the fact that Ragnor tensed even more, his grip on Max tightening. Raphael went in and out of paying attention to what the obnoxious Clave members were actually saying. A lot of what they were saying was about the fact that this newfound soulmate relationship was a disgrace to the Shadowhunter name and many other obnoxious things that Raphael didn't really want to hear. He paid much more attention to Max's squirming and Ragnor's ever increasing heart rate.

Raphael finally fully turned his attention to the trial when Alec was called to the stand. It was then that Ragnor reached over for his hand, and Raphael found himself stroking the top or Ragnor's hand with his thumb, trying to calm Ragnor's heartbeat. Raphael could hear it even over the trail, and it practically broke his heart. "At this time, we would like to ask Alexander Lightwood if he wishes to take his soulmate's punishment," a Calve member whose name Raphael had no hope of remember said.

It was clear that everyone was getting ready to leave, as if they thought they knew what Alec's answer would be. Raphael's eyes, however, were on Magnus, knowing that Magnus also thought he already knew Alec's answer. For several long moments, Alec's eyes met Magnus's and Raphael could feel Ragnor's breathing stop, just as terrified as Magnus was. Raphael felt Ragnor automatically relax, almost in a guilty way, when Alec finally opened his mouth to answer, "Yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts! I love talking to you guys about what I've written, that's how I improve!


	9. Chapter 9: Magnus

Magnus's heart hit the floor, or at least, he thought it did. But he wasn't entirely sure it was beating anymore, so he wasn't entirely sure of where it actually was. He was entirely sure, however, that he had heard Alec wrong. There was no way that he had ended up with the one soulmate who would be the first ever to actually say yes. Magnus looked to where Ragnor and Raphael were, hoping that they would be able to show him absolutely anything that would prove he was going crazy. But he had to look away when he saw Max wrapped around Ragnor like Ragnor was his only lifeline.

As soon as he heard Alec laughing, Magnus was forced to turn his attention back to the situation at hand. "You don't know what to say to that, do you?" he asked, his voice full of so many emotions that Magnus couldn't hope to pin down any of them. "There's no precedent for this, so now you're all wondering what you should actually do. Well, the way I see it, you have three options, and it gives me immense joy that no matter what you do, it will not come out in your favor."

Alec had obviously been planning what he wanted to say, and Magnus couldn't help but smile at the thought. "Your first option is to kill me despite what the Law says. But since the Law doesn't actually say anything, since this isn't written down anywhere, killing me for standing up for myself would only martyr me in the eye of Downworld and any Shadowhunters who agree with me." Alec looked at Max then, and it was easy to tell that Max was terribly afraid they would, in fact, kill Alec. Magnus had to admit that he was as well, knowing how little mercy Shadowhunters had for anyone who spoke out.

"Your second option is to do what this unspoken Law specifies and simply beat me," Alec continued, and Magnus winced at the very thought; he'd been sentenced to be whipped to death, and the Law said that Alec should simply be whipped. "But that will likely cause much more of a war than you want as well. Your third option is to do nothing; to simply let us both go. But that creates a precedent that you don't want. Let us go without a fight and you'll suddenly have everyone with a Downworlder soulmate coming forward and saying yes." Alec finally turned to look at Magnus once more, and Magnus was happy to see the mischief in his eyes.

"In a nutshell: you're screwed. And I couldn't be happier," Alec continued, and Magnus had to look down at his feet to keep from showing his smile. "You people rule with fear. You think that you can control anyone and everyone by simply making them fear you and the consequences for not staying in line with what you want." Looking around the room, Magnus could tell just how angry the Clave was becoming, but he suddenly wasn't scared anymore. "Your problem today is that your opponent isn't someone who's ruled by fear. I may be young, and this relationship may be new, but Magnus Bane is my soulmate, and my fear over what you will do to me is far outweighed by my devotion to my soulmate."

Even if Magnus had wanted to, he couldn't move his hands to wipe the tears away from his eyes, the fact that he was tied up being his greatest problem. The entire room was sitting in stunned silence, but all Magnus could think of was how much he wanted to wrap his arms around Alec. When the Clave decided they wanted to speak amongst themselves, the entire room broke out into just the commotion Magnus had expected. Alec immediately turned to him, and Magnus was surprised to see that there still wasn't a trace of the exhaustion or fear he had expected to be on Alec's face. "You didn't think that would be my answer, did you?" Alec asked, his smile widening.

Magnus could only move so much, but he was able to nod, unable to keep a smile off of his face as well. "I must admit that I was fully prepared for death, Alexander," he replied, watching the way Alec's smile slowly slipped from his face. "But once again, you've exceeded all expectations," he amended, trying, and failing, to put the smile back on Alec's face. Alec glanced over at Max once again, showing his nervousness for the first time all night. "He's strong, Alec; he'll be fine. He's just worried like the rest of us."

Alec turned his eyes back to Magnus, and for the first time he seemed to notice that Magnus had been crying. He reached up to gently wipe the tears from Magnus's face, looking as though he wished he could keep Magnus out of pain. But Magnus knew that if the Clave did anything other than simply let the two of him go that there would be no keeping him out of pain in any way. Magnus couldn't think of anything else to say, and Alec couldn't seem to think of anything else either, so the they both sat in silence. Magnus tried to drown out the various voices he heard around them, some of them in favor of Alec, but a lot of them against Alec.

Magnus could hear his heartbeat in his ears when the Clave came back in session. The last thing he wanted was for Alec to get hurt, but his life would be complete hell if they decided to simply kill Alec. Magnus was also highly aware of the fact that the Clave could do anything at all, including overriding what Alec had said and killing Magnus anyways. Even so, Magnus's heart still dropped once more when the man who had interrogated both of them stood up to say, "The Clave has decided to punish Alexander Lightwood in the way that was planned. He will be sentenced to thirty lashes with a whip made of electrum."

Magnus knew that the electrum would have killed him; electrum to warlocks being almost like silver to werewolves. But for Alec, it would only be terribly excruciating. Magnus's only hope was that Alec would quickly pass out from the pain, that he wouldn't have to endure it for too long. Magnus only slightly registered Max as he screamed for Alec; he was too focused on trying to break free of his restraints, even though he knew he was unlikely to be able to do so. The Clave had been smart enough to tie his hands together, and without the use of his magic, Magnus knew he wouldn't likely get out, not when his hands were tied together with metal chains.

For several lashes, Magnus actually found that he was able to watch, that he still had enough energy to try to break free and get to Alec. But when Alec continued screaming from pain, when Alec didn't pass out from the pain, Magnus had to look down at his feet. But looking down at his feet only reminded him of the fact that his own soulmate was in immense pain, so he closed his eyes, still struggling against his restraints.  
.  
.  
.  
The next thing Magnus knew, he was back at the Lightwood house, and Catarina was trying to keep him from getting up. Time had gone agonizingly slowly, and it felt like ages since he'd watched Alec take the last of his lashes, still fully conscious. "Magnus, stay still and let me heal you," Catarina was saying, forcing Magnus to sit back down. "You tore almost all of your skin off your wrists trying to break those chains. At least let me stop the bleeding." Magnus pushed her away once more, the knowledge that Alec was in much more pain keeping Magnus moving.

"Go heal Alec instead," Magnus said, trying to keep his voice as gentle as possible. "Ragnor can take care of me. Hell, I can take care of me. But you're the only one who has the skills to help Alexander." Magnus knew his voice cracked ever so slightly on Alec's name. Catarina looked at Magnus for several long moments until she finally nodded and moved toward the room the others had taken Alec to. Ragnor quickly too Catarina's spot, and Magnus no longer had the energy to move away from him.

After Ragnor had worked on his wrists for quite some time, Max suddenly appeared on the couch beside of Magnus. "Does it hurt?" he asked, and Magnus could easily tell that he had been crying. The only thing Magnus could find in himself to do was shake his head. He knew that the only reason it didn't hurt was because he was still running on adrenaline, but Max didn't need to know that. "How much pain is Alec in?" Max asked, causing even Ragnor to pause a bit.

"He's not in any pain anymore either, Max," Magnus replied, his voice tight and controlled. "Catarina will make sure of that, I promise." Max looked at him as though he was skeptical of Magnus's answer, and Magnus had to look away, knowing that he himself was becoming too emotional. When Ragnor was done with one of his wrists, Magnus reached over to take hold of Max's hand, hoping to comfort Max in any way possible.

"Alec is my hero," Max said several minutes later, causing Magnus to look over at him in surprise. "He's the bravest person I know," Max continued as though that would explain everything. "He's everything I want to be, Magnus." Magnus gave Max's hand another squeeze when he realized that Max was close to tears once more. The last thing Magnus wanted was for Max to cry again, but he wasn't entirely sure how to keep that from happening.

"You've picked the perfect person to want to be like, Max," Magnus replied, realizing that his voice betrayed the fact that he was close to tears again as well. Ragnor looked up at him, clearly analyzing his emotions, but he began to work on Magnus's wrist once more when Magnus gave him a look that told him to not bring it up in front of Max. When Ragnor was done, Magnus scooped Max up and headed for the room they had taken Alec to.

Max looked panicked when they realized that Alec was asleep, but Catarina seemed to pick up on that rather quickly. "I put him to sleep myself, Max," she said, turning back to her work with a quick smile. "I wanted him to be relaxed while I work on him. It's going to take quite a while." Magnus reached up to wipe Max's silent tears away, almost wishing that he hadn't brought Max in to see Alec. "Why don't you come and hold his hand while I work, Max? I think that would help if he knows you're here." Magnus smiled as he moved to where Max could reach Alec's hand and still stay in Magnus's lap.

When Jace and Isabelle came in the room, Magnus hardly noticed. He knew he should ask what the Clave had done after they had left, but he couldn't find it in himself to do so. He knew he should ask how Isabelle and Simon were, or even how Jace and Clary were, seeing as they had been arguing for weeks. But the only thing he could seem to do was focus on Alec's hand in Max's, hoping beyond hope that when Alec woke up, he would be pain free. Hoping that when Alec woke up, he wouldn't wake up to a war between Shadowhunters and Downworld. Magnus knew how easy it would be for Downworld to revolt now, and he had the sinking feeling that Alec had helped them do it.


	10. Chapter 10: Jace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts! Sorry I've gotten a bit slower with the updating!
> 
> Just a heads up, I will be without any form of internet from June 20th through July 1st. I don't know if this story will be done before then or not, but either way, there will be no posting on any of my fics during that time!

Jace knew that he'd always been wrong about everything he'd thought was true about love. As soon as Alec had taken the first lash, Jace had doubled over in pain so agonizing that he couldn't keep his eyes open. Knowing that Alec was in that kind of pain was one thing, but feeling that pain for himself was something altogether different. The hardest part for Jace was knowing that what he was feeling wasn't even half the pain Alec was feeling. Jace had thought he knew how much he loved Alec, but the feeling of utter terror that washed over him at Alec's pain told him just how wrong he had been.

There was a huge difference between thinking he loved Alec with everything he had and feeling that love through pain. Jace knew without a doubt that he would have easily taken Alec's place. But that didn't do anything to get Alec out of the situation at hand. When Clary's arms went around him, Jace didn't pull away from her. He had to admit that he hadn't expected her to even begin to try to comfort him, but when she did, he found himself leaning into her instead of shoving her away.

He didn't fight as Clary helped him get up and led him out into the hallway. Alec's screaming was much quieter, but the pain Jace felt didn't diminish in any way. Jace allowed Clary to keep a tight hold on him, and, for the first time ever, Jace allowed himself to relax into her embrace. For the second time in about five minutes, Jace realized he knew much less about love than he had once thought. He'd always thought the soulmate legend was just a story, but as soon as Clary's arms went around him, he knew he had been terribly wrong.

Jace allowed himself to relax into the fact that Clary was there with him, to actually let go of everything he'd once believed for the first time in his life. The pain he felt through his parabatai bond was more overwhelming than anything Jace had ever felt, but Clary's hand on his shoulder somehow kept him anchored in reality. Before he could think about what he was doing, Jace reached over to take Clary's hand.

Clary seemed terribly surprised at Jace's gesture, but Jace quickly felt her relax into it. Before long, Jace was half-way curled up, his knees to his chest, trying anything he could to get the pain out of his mind. Jace surprised himself by smiling when Clary started rubbing her thumb across his tattoo. He'd taken the ring off before the trial, but he had no idea why. His best guess was that he'd subconsciously known what kind of difference the trial would make in his mind, in his beliefs of everything around him. Jace could feel the anger toward his father welling up inside of him, but he tamped it down when he looked up to see Alec being carried out of the court room.

"We'll have a talk later, Clary," he said as they got up from the floor. She gave his hand one final squeeze before letting go, and they both turned as Magnus exited the court room, Ragnor and Raphael with him. The next thing Jace knew, Max was in his arms, and all he could do was turn to follow Alec as they tried to get him back to the Lightwood house so that Catarina could begin healing him.  
.  
.  
.  
There was only so much Catarina could do, the electrum in the whip messing with her magic in ways that couldn't be helped. She could only heal so much, so she kept him sedated for three days afterward, healing him a bit more each day, trying to keep him out of pain. For those three days, Jace didn't move from Alec's side. They kept asking him to, they kept telling them he would sleep better in a bed instead of the chair beside of Alec's bed. But Jace couldn't find it in himself to move until he knew that Alec was, without a doubt, okay.

The most surprising thing about the situation to Jace was that Magnus didn't leave the room either. He could see the guilt in Magnus's eyes, but no amount of talking to him seemed to help him in any way. "How could it not be my fault?" he asked Jace, the exhaustion and desperation all to evident in his voice. "He did it for me. And if I hadn't gotten so angry with him, none of this would have ever happened. But I didn't even give him the chance to explain things. I wouldn't listen to him, and now here we are."

Every conversation with Magnus seemed to end the same exact way, so eventually Jace started asking about Magnus himself. Jace hadn't exactly been in the know about the fact that Magnus and Alec were dating, but he wasn't bitter about that at all, he understood the multiple reasons Alec had kept it a secret for as long as possible. But Jace figured that there was no harm in learning more about Magnus, there was no harm in trying to navigate his own new-found relationship with Magnus.

The worst part about those three days was that Max didn't want to leave Alec's side either. That would have been fine, but he was constantly asking questions, constantly wanting Alec to wake up. The worst question was if Alec was in pain or not. Thankfully, Magnus was the one to answer him, explaining as gently as possible that Catarina was keeping him asleep so that he wouldn't be in pain.

Even then, waking up was excruciating for Alec, but in the end, Alec had told Jace to leave and rest. That was the last thing Jace wanted to do, but eventually, his exhaustion won out. Jace didn't exactly have the best night's sleep, the pain still radiating through their parabatai bond, but it was sleep, and it had been exactly what he needed. When Clary came in to talk to him, he was much more prepared than he had expected himself to be. "Sit down, Clary," he said before she could say anything at all. "Just hear me out and then I'll do the same for you."

Jace tried to ignore the way she made him extremely nervous, he tried to ignore the way that he liked how the sunlight glittered off her hair. "First, I want to apologize for my reaction to the fact that we're soulmates." Jace smiled ever so slightly when her eyes lit up when he said the word "fact." "No matter how cheesy this might sound, everything that's happened these past few days has made me see exactly how lucky I am to have you as my soulmate. I can't ignore the things that made me feel the way I did, that's a part of me, Clary. But I guess what I'm saying is that I want to try this out. More than I've ever wanted anything before. If you'll have me."

For several seconds, Clary simply looked back at him, her expression not changing in any way. When she moved forward to wrap her arms around him, Jace embraced her so easily it took his breath away. Before Jace could find it in himself to say anything else, he found his lips on Clary's, and he idly realized that that was the exact thing he'd wanted from the very beginning. When Clary relaxed into his touch, Jace brought his hands up to run them through her hair, losing himself entirely in everything about her.  
.  
.  
.  
Going home had been a terrible ordeal, and Robert didn't follow them, but Jace had been relieved about that. He had been happy to go home, hoping that they could pick up where they'd left off, hoping that he and Clary would finally get the chance to make something of their relationship. But that had been short-lived to say the least. When someone came to Magnus just a few days later saying they had information about Valentine, Jace had been excited and hopeful.

But now that he was staring back at his father, or whoever this man actually was, Jace knew he'd been wrong to be so excited. Listening to Valentine explain that he was Jace's father should have been the most heartbreaking thing that had ever happened to Jace, but he couldn't seem to feel anything at all. At first, he felt the anger of being lied to for so long wash over him, then his mind switched to thoughts of Clary, but soon enough, he couldn't seem to figure out what he was feeling, if anything at all. "I heard about the little stunt your parabatai pulled," his father said, and Jace's anger immediately returned. "Soon we must have a serious conversation about that, Jonathan."

Jace wanted to turn to tell him that there was nothing to talk about, he wanted to defend Alec, knowing very well that Alec was completely right in everything he did. But then he heard someone at the door, and he knew it was Clary without turning to look at her. The look on her face when his father explained the situation mirrored almost everything he was feeling at the moment. Jace's last thought before his father stepped through the Portal and broke it was that the universe was playing with his life. There was no way his soulmate could be his sister, and he planned to find out what was going on.


	11. Chapter 11: Alec

When Alec woke up, he woke to more pain than he'd ever imagined, but waking to Magnus and Jace by his side made him feel as though, maybe, just maybe, things would actually be okay. Getting Jace to leave, however, wasn't as easy as Alec had expected it to be, but he could see that Jace hadn't slept at all, so he kept pushing until Jace went to rest, knowing that Jace would be much better off that way. Alec looked up in surprise when Magnus reached to take his hand and the pain that had been radiating through him disappeared. "Don't waste your energy on my pain, Magnus," he said, hearing how soft and slow his voice was.

Magnus simply smiled and kept his hand in Alec's. "Don't you dare worry about me," Magnus replied, his voice bent by worry and fatigue. "I'll keep you out of pain as long as possible. It's the last I can do for you." Alec allowed himself to relax into Magnus's touch, but even Magnus couldn't erase everything else that had happened.

"What's going on right now?" Alec asked, moving to sit up so that he could actually face Magnus. "Between the Shadowhunters and Downworld, I mean." Magnus seemed to shift nervously, obviously a bit on edge over the entire situation. Alec motioned for him to move from his chair to the bed, suddenly wanting nothing more than to be close to Magnus, suddenly overcome by the fact that he had actually helped save Magnus, that he had actually broken the mold.

"Let's just say that leaving Alicante is going to be very difficult for us," Magnus replied, sighing as he moved to sit beside of Alec. "What you did was nothing short of heroic, and most of Downworld has decided that they will not remain silent any longer. They've decided that they will stand by you until the Law is changed so that people no longer have to live in fear." Alec smiled at the thought of it, but in reality, things were spiraling out of control much faster than he might have imagined.

Getting out of Alicante was terrible, the crowds were unrelenting, and they eventually decided that once they got home, Magnus would need to stay at the Institute until things became a little safer for everyone involved. Alec didn't mind being cooped up in the Institute with Magnus, but he did mind not being able to go with the others on the missions concerning Valentine.  
.  
.  
.  
Everything was fine until the day Alec felt his parabatai bond begin pulling in a way it never had before. Up until then, the Valentine missions had turned up absolutely nothing at all, but now he knew there was something wrong with Jace. It wasn't a physical sort of issue, that much was evident, but there was something wrong with Jace, and he knew he needed to find out what it was. The problem was that, even if he was actually allowed out of the Institute, he had no idea where they had ended up on the mission. So the only thing he could do was wait for Jace to return, hoping that whatever was going on could be fixed.

Until the others got back from the mission, Alec tried to keep his mind busy by reading, and for the majority of the day, Magnus stayed with him. Somehow, Magnus seemed to know that even his presence would help calm Alec down. They hardly spoke to one another all day, but just knowing that Magnus was there did more for Alec than any words ever could, and somehow, Alec relaxed enough to keep himself sane until he heard Jace's footsteps in the hallway.

"Alec, please don't," Jace said as Alec followed him toward his room. At first, Alec almost listened without a second thought, but he could hear the catch in Jace's voice, he could still feel the soft tug at their bond, and he knew that this was a time that Jace didn't need to be alone, no matter what he said. Entering Jace's room, Alec was slightly surprised when he stopped on the threshold and Jace turned to say, "Get in here and close the door."

It didn't take long for Jace to explain the situation, and Alec couldn't help but refuse to believe that Jace and Clary were siblings as well. The situation didn't make any sense at all, but Alec's firm belief in the legend kept him from believing that what Valentine was saying was true in any way. "I just really don't know what to do, Alec," Jace said, catching Alec by surprise. Jace always had a plan, no matter how ridiculous or life-threatening it might be. "I have to prove him wrong, but I have no idea where to begin."

The only thing Alec knew to do at the moment was reassure Jace that they would figure things out one way or another. He left Jace with the thought that sleep might actually help clear Jace's mind, help get him back to himself. But Alec knew that he himself wouldn't be able to sleep for a while yet, so he found himself with Magnus once more, explaining everything that Jace had told him. "I actually do have a plan, well, sort of," Magnus said when Alec was done, his voice thoughtful and open. "Just go get some rest, I'll see what I can do in the morning."  
.  
.  
.  
Getting Magnus's friends into the Institute wasn't the problem, it was getting Jace to actually talk to them that was the real problem. Alec had no idea what the man and woman Magnus had asked to come had to do with the situation at hand, but he trusted Magnus, so he got Jace and Clary to actually come together and wait to listen to whatever these people had to say.

"This is Tessa Gray," Magnus said, motioning to the woman. "And this is James Carstairs," he continued, motioning to the man. Their looks complimented one another, where James was fair, Tessa was dark, and Alec could see from the way they stood together that they were very close to one another. Alec would have been startled by James's silver hair if Magnus had not already explained that he had been ill. Magnus had not taken the time to fully explain how James had turned from a Silent Brother back into a Shadowhunter, but Alec suspected that it had something to do with the reason they were there.

"Magnus asked to come speak with you," Tessa began, her voice soft and gentle. "Because he said that if anyone could help you understand your situation, it would be us." Alec watched as Jace leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, knowing that this was a sign that Jace's attention was captured. "We just want you to know that there is a possibility that you're not soulmates." Clary looked as though she was going to speak up when James cleared his throat.

"Just listen for a moment, please," he said, his voice tinged with a centuries old accent. "There is such a thing as platonic soulmates, if you will. And we know this because my parabatai and I shared a soulmate tattoo. This confused us greatly until we met Tessa and discovered that she, too, shared our tattoo." Alec glanced at Magnus, wondering if Magnus really believed that this could be the situation that Jace and Clary were facing as well. "It took William and I years to understand what was going on. Neither of us felt any sort of romantic attraction toward the other, but when we met Tessa, we suddenly realized that a pair of soulmates didn't have to be romantic, at least, not in our case."

Alec smiled at the way James's voice changed when he said his parabatai's name, as though he was remembering a lifetime of memories all at once. "If the two of you are truly siblings," Tessa picked back up. "Then it is still entirely possible for you to be soulmates. There could be another person involved. Or even two more." Alec was entirely intrigued by the whole situation, but before he could ask any questions, Clary surprised him by being the one to leave the room without a word. He would have almost expected it of Jace, but Jace was actually calm for once, and Alec could tell it was because he was forming a plan.  
.  
.  
.  
It was likely the worst plan that Jace had ever had, but, as always, Alec had agreed to go along with it, mostly so that he could protect Jace. But now that he was in the shadows, listening to Jace's conversation with Valentine, trying to keep his breathing as quiet as possible, Alec was beginning to have second thoughts. He had mostly agreed to come with Jace because they both wanted to ensure that nothing happened to Jace, but the quieter Alec tried to make his breathing, the louder it seemed to become. And he knew that if Valentine found him, they would both be dead in a matter of seconds.

"How do you feel about what your parabatai did?" Valentine was saying, his voice relaxed and casual in a way that Alec was willing to bet it always was. "It's hardly something one can keep from having a strong opinion on," Valentine continued. Alec found himself becoming nervous at the thought of what Jace might say, but he also knew that Jace had stood by him, and he knew deep down that if Jace agreed with Valentine, it would be for self-preservation.

"He is my parabatai," Jace said after several loaded moments of silence. "I will always stand by him." Alec smiled at the finality of Jace's voice. Whatever he had expected Jace to do, it certainly hadn't been that he would stand up to Valentine Morgenstern, even if he was apparently Jace's father. "Especially when what he does is right," Jace finished, causing Alec's heart to skip a beat in anticipation of what Valentine might do to him.

"Parabatai does not mean that you must senselessly follow him even on a path of destruction, Jonathan," Valentine answered, his voice eerily calm. Alec silently cursed Jace in an almost comical way, realizing that he himself was the one following Jace into danger and destruction. "Your oath does not require you to follow him when what he does is morally wrong. Not to mention dangerous for the good of the Clave."

For several moments, Alec thought that Jace wasn't going to respond, but when he did, he was surprised by the turn things took. "I'm not here to talk about your hatred of Downworlders, that's something you've already established," Jace said, his voice cold and hard. "I came to talk with you about Clary. I want you to explain everything to me once more, and don't leave anything out. I've got all the time in the world." Jace plan was to hear Valentine's story once more, to entice even more detail from him, to see if things still matched what he had told them just a few nights ago. Alec thought it was insane, that Valentine was far too intelligent to get his story mixed up, but Jace had insisted.

"Before we talk about that matter, why don't you invite your parabatai to the party Jonathan?" Valentine asked, his voice sprinkled with the mischief Alec so often found in Jace's voice. Alec's hand automatically went to his arrows as he stepped out from behind the wall he'd been using as cover. The last thing Alec saw before he hit the ground was Valentine pulling Jace toward a portal, the smile on his face telling Alec that he had a plan of his own. Alec felt the arrow in his hand snap as he hit the floor with it, and he consciously used all of his remaining energy to roll away from his bow, hoping that it would remain undamaged in the fall. He had no idea what Valentine had done to him, but what he did know was that he was losing consciousness very quickly, and all he could do was hope he remembered everything when that had happened when he woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, come talk to me about your thoughts and feelings! Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, I was babysitting and then I got sick! Reminder that I will be without internet connection from June 20th to July 2nd!
> 
> Also, I wish to start a project where I begin writing about various things that need more awareness. Things like social issues, illnesses, disabilities, mental health, and so on! So far, I've written a fic having to do with rape, and I have a WIP where Max has epilepsy. I am planning things such as: Simon with hemophilia, Alec or possibly Magnus with depression, neruodivergent characters (BPD, autism, ADHA, and disorders of that sort), Alec with Alzheimer's, Jace's daughter with a heart defect, a young werewolf who is an abuse victim, and the likes.
> 
> All of that to say this: If you have any requests of what you would like to see me write about in this project, feel free to come message and let me know! I'm writing it for those who feel as though they are hidden by society, and I am writing this to bring awareness to many issues and so on that society tends to shove to the background. If you have anything at all, please, please let me know!


	12. Chapter 12: Clary

The news that Jace was gone and Alec was severely injured had just been the tip of the iceberg to Clary. Magnus said that Alec was going to be fine, but the fact that he stayed by Alec's side every second told her it was worse than he might want to admit. She didn't know the specifics of what Valentine had done to Alec, but she did know that he hadn't tried to spare Alec's life in any way. The thought of what her father had done made Clary so sick that she hadn't yet gotten up the courage to go visit Alec in the infirmary.

Everything inside of her told Clary that she needed to go see him, or that she at least needed to go see absolutely anyone. She had shut herself in her room at the Institute, unwilling to talk to anyone about what was going on. She hated her father for everything that he was doing, but more than that, she had to gather her thoughts on this whole soulmate situation. It seemed to her like Simon and Isabelle were the only ones who weren't having terrible trouble with their soulmate situation.

Now Clary knew why her mother had always warned her to not put too much hope in the soulmate legend. Clary idly wondered if her mother had hidden the fact that she had a brother from her because she knew that Jace had the same soulmate tattoo as Clary. If Jace was really Clary's brother, then, even if her mother had really thought that Jace was dead, she would have hidden it simply for the fact that the soulmate tattoo would have been a rough subject. Clary had always been terribly curious, and Jocelyn likely knew that she would have wanted to know what her brother's tattoo had been.

Clary was going to attempt to take a nap when she heard a soft knock at her door. Opening the door to see Simon on the other side. She'd become so accustomed to people coming to tell her bad news or to drag her out on another mission, so Simon was a very welcome and pleasant change. The only problem was that he looked particularly tense, and Clary immediately became worried that something else had happened, even though she couldn't figure out what could be worse than anything else that had happened of late.

"I need to talk to you," Simon said, his voice quick in the way it was when he was nervous. "And no, nothing huge is wrong," he said when he saw Clary's expression change into one of panic. "It's just me being the same idiot I've always been." It was then that Clary realized that this had to do with Isabelle. That was the only logical reason that Simon would be talking this way because she knew how much the legend meant to him and how much he already cared for Izzy.

Sitting back down on the bed, Clary moved to throw a leg over one of Simon's, the way they had done since they were little. Suddenly, Clary found herself wishing that Simon was her soulmate. They fit together so perfectly, and Clary knew things would have been much easier if that were the case. "Isabelle is very angry with me," Simon said, his voice distant in a way Clary knew it rarely ever was. "Which I can't really blame her for that because it's all my fault." Clary took Simon's hand then, knowing that whatever was going on, she was Simon's source of comfort, just as he was her source of comfort.

"I'm squirming, Clary," Simon continued, obviously trying to keep the emotion out of his voice. "I finally found my soulmate and now I'm doubting everything. And that's all my fault, I know it is. But I'm doubting whether or not Izzy and I are meant to be together. I mean, come on. Have you ever met two people more different than us? She's a warrior, which is something this little nerd will never be, and I just don't know anymore." He stopped abruptly, and Clary could tell that he had forced himself to stop instead of rambling on.

"Simon," Clary said, her voice betraying just how tired she was. "You're overthinking things, just the way you know you always do. You and Izzy are soulmates. You're meant to be together." Clary tried to put as much force and meaning behind her words, but she was no longer as confident in the soulmate legend as she had been before. Simon, however, seemed to understand that because he gave an indignant snort before replying.

"Just like you and Jace, huh?" he asked, unable to hide the bitterness in his voice. Then he seemed to realize what he had said and began trying to backtrack. "I'm sorry, Clary. That was uncalled for." Clary couldn't help but smile at how quickly Simon tried to amend what he'd said. She shook her head, trying to imply that what he'd said was actually terribly correct. There was no way she could deny it, and Simon knew that, too. "Let's forget about all of this for a while," Simon said, reaching for Clary's sketchpad. She smiled as he handed it to her, knowing that he was going to start naming off ridiculous things for her to draw, knowing that it was his way of distracting her, knowing that it would likely do the trick.  
.  
.  
.  
Clary jumped as the door to the room burst open. She and Simon had apparently fallen asleep, but that didn't surprise her. What surprised her was the fact that the door opened to reveal Alec. He was leaning heavily on Magnus, and she could tell from Magnus's expression that he had tried everything in his power to keep Alec in bed, that his options had been watch Alec go by himself or help him get to where he wanted to be. Alec stopped as he realized that he was waking them up, but he kept coming when he apparently decided that there was no going back now.

"Sorry to wake you, but you're needed right now," Alec said, his voice much more frantic than Clary had ever heard it. He was usually very composed, but at the moment it was as though he was too tired to try to keep his composure together. "Jace is back," Alec finished, his voice terribly final, terribly exhausted. Clary couldn't tell Alec's thoughts on that subject from his voice, so she simply got out of bed, shaking Simon a little to get him going.

She couldn't help but smile as Simon started asking whether or not he was okay to actually go anywhere else in the Institute, whether or not the sun was up or if he would be okay. Clary didn't stop to hear anyone's response; as soon as Alec had indicated that Jace was currently in the library with Robert and Maryse, she was immediately on her way down the hall. She knew it would take Alec and Magnus a little bit to actually get to the library, but that thought didn't stop her either. Walking in to see Jace was like walking in to a nightmare all over again. Every time she looked at him, she felt her stomach clench, her feelings for Jace still mixed up in the apparent fact that Jace was her brother.

Clary wanted to change her feelings so badly, but she knew that even if she changed her feelings, she wouldn't be able to change their soulmate tattoos, so she shoved the thought back down as Jace turned to see her. "I got away on my own," he explained, knowing what her first question would likely be. "And yes, I'm fine. Valentine didn't hurt me." She noticed the way he said Valentine, the way he said it with so much hate, the way he avoided calling Valentine his father. Clary looked at the Lightwood parents, idly wondering what their thoughts on the situation were.

She listened as Jace told his story, apparently having waited until everyone was together to tell it so that he wouldn't have to repeat himself. He explained how he had pretended to give into Valentine, how Valentine had been utterly trusting, and as soon as he could, Jace had escaped. Escaping when you were free to go where you pleased was easy enough, but Clary tensed as Jace explained that he hadn't truly escaped, that he had a plan. His plan was apparently to continue to trick Valentine into thinking that Jace was on his side, to learn more of Valentine's plan while still staying in touch with the Lightwoods. Clary watched Alec's face as Jace revealed his plan, and seeing how easily they communicated with one another without so much as a word made her almost jealous of their parabatai bond.

What Alec thought of the plan was completely and utterly obvious, but when Jace gave him a look that said it was likely their only way to learn any of Valentine's plan, Alec relaxed ever so slightly, remaining silent and allowing his parents to voice their thoughts. "There's just one last problem," Jace said as the Lightwoods finally conceded, apparently realizing that Jace wasn't going to give up. "He's asked me to bring him a vampire tonight. I guess as a sign of trust or whatever twisted thing he might be thinking. I don't know much yet, but what I do know is that he's not going to hurt them for a while." Jace paused for a moment, not meeting Clary's eyes, and Clary immediately knew he was thinking.

Before she could interject, however, Jace continued, and Clary's heart fell. "I'd like to take Simon with me. I can keep him safe, I swear I can. It would really help to have someone else on my side while I'm there. Someone I know I can trust." Clary was only halfheartedly listening as Isabelle began arguing with Jace. Apparently Isabelle wasn't as angry with Simon as he thought she was, or if she was, the fear of what Valentine might do overcame that anger. Clary knew that Izzy and Jace could argue all day, but she was surprised when Simon was the one who interrupted them.

"I'll do it," he said, cutting through whatever Isabelle's argument had been. "If Jace needs help, then I'll help him. If it will help us get Jocelyn back, then I'll do it." Clary smiled at that, but she could feel her heart rate increasing at the very thought of both Simon and Jace going to be with Valentine. Simon was the closest thing to a brother that Clary had ever had, and whether Jace was her brother or not, she didn't relish the idea of him being with Valentine, even if he would be relatively safe.

The look in Simon's eyes told her that no amount of arguing would change his mind, that he was set in what he wanted to do, and he apparently wanted to help Jace figure out what was going on and how to get Jocelyn back. Jace tried to talk to her about where the Cup might be, but Clary still didn't have any more idea than she had ever had before, so he finally gave up, promising that they would work on that, that he would try to learn as much about Jocelyn and her Shadowhunter days as he could from Valentine. In the end, Clary hesitantly hugged Simon goodbye, hoping with all her heart that this wouldn't be the last time they would see each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm here to tell you that this story will not be updated again until I get back from my trip! I will be gone from June 20th through July 2nd.
> 
> I also want to let you know that I am starting to plan a (very large) OC project. It will be about all the kids of the entire gang. If you would like any information about it, feel free to message me, as I am in the planning stages of that right now!
> 
> There is also going to be a lot of information about that on my blog (my username is canonizes on tumblr) and I tag all posts about it as "CanonizesOCs." Feel free to come there and ask me anything you want about any of my OCs, and the original post about them is here canionizes. tumblr. com/post/145874519650/oc-project (remove the spaces!)
> 
> If you have any questions for me about anything at all, just let me know! I will see you wonderful people when I get back! Get ready for all that I have in store!


	13. Chapter 13: Magnus

Magnus had known that Alec's actions would have all kinds of consequences, but he hadn't even begun to imagine what they might be. He hadn't ever thought that Alec's actions would so perfectly mix with Jace's plan. The only problem was that someone actually needed to fix everything that was going on because of Alec's actions before anything could actually be used to fix any of the problems concerning Valentine. Since the day Alec had stood up for them in court, Magnus had spent most of his time in meetings, trying to appease Downworld as best he could. But that was a job he wasn't exactly cut out for, and he very graciously accepted Luke's help.

The first time he'd been asked to come to a meeting, he'd done so by himself, and he'd been so completely unprepared that he'd actually been overwhelmed beyond belief. Downworld was entirely prepared to go to war with the Clave, and, naturally, they assumed that Magnus was the best person to lead that particular movement. They now had their opportunity, and they weren't going to easily back down.

It had taken three meetings with three sets of Downworlder representatives for Magnus to actually convince them to postpone that, to plan what they might want to do instead. Alec had actually been the biggest help possible, especially given the circumstances. He was entirely caught up in worrying about Jace, and Magnus couldn't exactly blame him for that. Magnus knew that if it had been Ragnor in the same situation, he never would have been able to contain himself long enough to do anything useful.

Watching Alec as he interacted with the various Downworlders who ended up at Magnus's loft was incredibly rewarding for Magnus. The ease with which Alec explained that he simply wanted peace between Downworld and the Clave, that he didn't blame anyone for what was done to him, that he just wanted to help the situation in any way possible was slightly astonishing to Magnus. Alec played the Downworlder advocate just as easily as he played the Shadowhunter advocate, and that was something Magnus had never experienced before.

The only problem was that Magnus couldn't seem to convince Alec to actually go to one of the never-ending meetings with him. He was entirely certain that Alec would be able to help advance the situation far more than anyone else could, but Alec remained adamant that he wanted nothing to do with the meetings. Magnus often wondered if Alec simply wanted to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible, but that hadn't done anything to keep him from becoming slightly agitated because of it.

They only had so much time to figure out exactly how to help Jace execute his plan, and Magnus was unsure that he could do it without Alec's help. The insight into Valentine's plan was immeasurably valuable, but even that wasn't enough to make Magnus confident enough in his plan. He had one more meeting, one more chance to make things really count, and he had very little confidence in himself. This time, the meeting would include the Clave as well as the relevant Downworlder representatives, and Magnus knew all too well that getting them all to agree on the same thing would be an almost impossible task.

"Alexander, I'm begging you to come with us," Magnus said as he finished getting ready. He was only really waiting on Ragnor and Raphael, and he knew that if he didn't change Alec's mind by the time they got there that he was probably done for. "I could really use your assistance, even if it's just that you're there showing your support." Alec shook his head, his lips in a tight line that told Magnus he wasn't likely going to be able to change Alec's mind.

"I told you, Magnus," Alec responded, his words slow and careful as though he was trying to decide the best course of action to take. "I really just want to stay away from the Clave as much as possible. And these meetings aren't really my style anyways." Magnus forced himself to keep from pulling away when Alec walked over to take his hand. "I know you're going to do wonderfully regardless, Magnus. Just relax and give it your everything."

Magnus tried to keep from smiling at Alec, still slightly angry that Alec wasn't coming along. But Alec's words did relax him ever so slightly, even if it was mostly just because of the tone of his voice. "Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find us," Magnus replied, his voice much colder than he had wanted it to be. Before he could do anything to fix it, however, he heard Ragnor open the front door, and he knew there wasn't time to do anything else other than leave the loft and hope for the best.  
.  
.  
.  
The meeting actually wasn't as bad as Magnus had anticipated. Yet. So far, there was only a lot of yelling, which Magnus had expected. But no one had actually thrown a punch. Or a seraph blade. Yet. So he was counting that as a personal win, even if he couldn't get his points across over all of the arguing. Looking at Ragnor and Raphael, he could see his own frustration mirrored on their faces, and he deeply wished, not for the first time, that Alec was by his side. But since he wasn't, Magnus took a deep breath, trying to steady himself, and tried to launch back into the conversation at hand.

After what felt like hours of conversation, hours of going in endless circles and seemingly making no progress at all, the entire room went impossibly quiet, and Magnus couldn't seem to fathom why that would be. And then he turned around to see Alec at the door, dressed perfectly for the meeting, which Magnus knew meant that he had thought a lot about it before coming to the rescue. At least, Magnus assumed that he was coming to the rescue. At least, Magnus hoped he was.

"I know what you're all thinking," Alec began speaking, his voice filled with a sort of authority that Magnus knew he himself lacked rather horribly. "The Shadowhunter half of you is thinking that I'm here to finally side with my people. And the Downworlder half of you is silently hoping that I'll be the key to your revolution. And I'm happy to announce that neither of those things is about to happen." Surprisingly, Alec dropped a wink in Magnus's direction, and Magnus couldn't help but smile at him on reflex alone.

Alec took his seemingly rightful position at the front of the room, taking his time to do so, as though he knew he was now in control. "I'm here to urge you to do the one thing that will save both groups in the end. I'm here to urge you to listen to what Magnus has been trying to tell you. Because we all know that this situation isn't going away. Valentine will not surrender, and everyone in this room knows that there isn't much we can do about him. Especially as separate entities. But together, we're so much stronger than even Valentine could imagine."

Magnus wasn't sure he would ever be able to explain how infinitely proud of Alec he was in that moment. He knew how much Alec hated to be the center of attention, so this step was huge in every way. "My brother has a plan," Alec continued. "But it will only work if the Clave works alongside Downworld." He held up a hand, knowing the room was about explode once more. "You act like working together would be the end of the world, when in reality, if you don't work together, that might actually mean the end of the world. If anyone should want to remove themselves from both the Clave and Downworld, it should be me."

Magnus watched in silent fascination at the way Alec commanded the room. It was like Alec was born for this sort of job, and Magnus was entirely certain that he'd never seen someone so perfectly take control of a room, especially when the Clave was occupying it. "But here I am, standing before you all, compelling you to understand that we must work together if we ever hope to defeat Valentine. Shadowhunters have a certain skillset that has proved us useful, that much is true. But Downworlders have their own skills that could greatly contribute to our current, very real war."

The Clave was visibly squirming, and Magnus couldn't help but smile at that. He risked a glance at Ragnor to see that the other warlock seemed to be just as pleased by the situation as he was. "Consider this: would it be worse for us to work together and actually defeat Valentine or for us to continue to hate one another so much that we let Valentine destroy everyone in the process? Because I can assure you that Downworlders aren't the only ones Valentine plans to destroy. He will not spare the Clave, no matter how sacred you seem to think you are. Valentine has his own idea of what this world should look like. And neither Downworld nor the Clave is in that vision."

It was clear that Alec was done speaking, and Magnus knew that was all he needed to say. Everything he'd said had resonated so much with each group that Magnus knew it was likely impossible for either of them to ignore what was going on. He smiled as Alec finally came to stand beside of him. "I can't believe you actually came," Magnus said, reaching over to take Alec's hand. Alec simply shrugged, as though to say that he couldn't believe it either. So they simply waited in silence, and Magnus was happy to realize that his nerves had finally been calmed.

When the Downworlders finally decided that they would do whatever it took to defeat Valentine, Magnus thought that Alec was going to actually jump for joy. But their good mood was quickly ruined by the Clave, and Magnus wondered why that should actually surprise them. The Clave decided that they needed more time to make their decision. Apparently having Valentine take over sounded only marginally less appealing than working with Downworlders. Alec's jaw set, and Magnus knew he was already thinking of the things he could do to help the situation. "We would like to speak with the Lightwoods more on the matter of their plan," one of the representatives said. "Until our decision is made, we will simply defend ourselves against Valentine as best as possible."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to update this! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> I don't know how to go about saying this, so I'm just going to go for it. My current plan as of now is to stop writing fanficiton. That means that I will work to finish all of my fics that are currently in progress, and after that is done, I will no longer write anything new.
> 
> This decision has not come easily because of how much writing means to me. And honestly, it is a decision that is subject to change. But as of now, I'm just very upset with the situation I am in, and I think it would be the best move for me. Whether or not I can follow through with it will remain to be seen, but I hope I will. If you have questions about this feel free to message me on here or my blog (I am canonizes on tumblr). I love you all so much, and I can't tell you how much each and every one of you means to me. I will update you on this situation as needed.
> 
> On a much lighter note, I am apparently writing a "book." I am unsure what will become of this, but it's apparently happening, so we'll see where this particular adventure takes me.


	14. Chapter 14: Simon

The last thing Simon wanted to do was to trust Jace and his plan, but that seemed to be the only option he had. Where Jace was free to come and go as he pleased, Simon was trapped in the room Valentine had assigned him to, and the only human contact he ever had was either Valentine or Jace. Which was essentially Simon's idea of the worst nightmare possible. Jace had been tasked to bring Simon the blood he needed, and Simon refused to ask where Jace got it from. The only times Valentine ever visited was when he wanted to hear himself talk while also trying to intimidate Simon.

So Simon spent a lot of time trying to work out what was going on, trying to come up with a better plan than the one that Jace had, especially if it just so happened that Alec and Magnus couldn't unite the Shadowhunters with Downworld. But most of his time was spent thinking of Isabelle, wondering if he would ever actually make it back to her, wondering what might happen if he didn't.

Simon missed Clary, he didn't see how he could keep from it. She'd been such a huge part of his life for so long that he could hardly remember a time that she hadn't been by his side. But the way he missed Isabelle was so very different. It was almost like a sort of longing. Like every part of him wanted Isabelle by his side once again. The way that he simply wanted to be with Isabelle again pushed all of Simon's previous doubts out of his mind. He now wished he could take back their arguments about his doubts, he wished he could ease Isabelle's mind once more.

When the door opened, Simon couldn't help but jump. He still wasn't used to his vampire hearing, so he didn't really use it in the way he knew he could. He tried to keep himself from groaning as Valentine walked in, throwing a bottle of blood on the bed for him. "My son had to run an errand," Valentine said, and Simon hated the way he made that sound, he didn't want to find out what sort of errand that might be. "I thought it would be inhumane to leave you without your food."

Simon refused to drink blood with Jace around, much less with Valentine watching his every move. So Simon left the blood where it landed on the bed, ignoring the sharp pang of pain he felt at the thought of it. "Jace isn't even your son, is he?" Simon asked, though he had no idea what actually made him do so. When Valentine tilted his head, it was obvious he wanted an explanation for the question. "You went to all that trouble to convince Clary and Jace that they're siblings. You went to tons of trouble to ensure that Jace never acquired a picture of you or Michael Wayland. I've had a lot of time to think while being in here, and I think you didn't want him to know what you looked like."

The look Valentine gave him was utterly unreadable, but Simon was able to tell from the narrowing of his eyes that he was definitely on to something. "I'd suggest you drink that bottle of blood," Valentine began, his voice slow and calculating. "I doubt you'll ever get another meal after this one." Simon resigned himself to the fact that Valentine wasn't going to leave him alone long enough for him to eat in peace. "Since you'll never see any of them again, I might as well tell you just how right you are."

Simon looked at Valentine with what he knew was thinly vailed surprise. The fact that Valentine was set to begin his plan so quickly was far more surprising to Simon than the fact that he was actually right about his hunch. "When I heard that Isabelle Lightwood was your soulmate, I must admit that I was terribly surprised," Valentine continued, his voice clothed with amusement. "How could you blame me, really? I mean, the most mundane of the mundanes I had ever met, the soulmate of a Lightwood? So I'm sure you can understand that I have my doubts about how much of my story you can actually understand."

When Valentine launched into his explanation, it became hard for Simon to keep up. The fact that he was terribly distracted by his thoughts of Isabelle didn't help him in any way. He wanted to ask about a million questions, but everything inside of him told him that Valentine was the last person on the face of the earth who would deal well with being interrupted. Simon was mildly confused by the entire thing, but not because of the Shadowhunter dealings with it. Mostly because he was confused as to why Valentine never wanted Jace to know that he was a Herondale. He guessed that was because Valentine had always been planning on dropping Jace off with the Lightwoods, so making him an honorary Wayland had been the easiest option.

After Valentine had finished, he didn't leave any time for Simon to ask even one of the questions that were on his mind. He simply lead Simon out of the door, leaving Simon with only enough time to hope that Jace's plan was in place, or that they had any plan at all. The trip through the portal wasn't exactly the most disorienting thing, it was just that he really hadn't expected to end up on a boat. And the only thing that Simon could do was hope that Jace was in on this part of the plan as well.  
.  
.  
.  
Simon had been thrown in a random room of the boat, and the entire time he'd been using his vampire hearing to try to actually hear something of any use at all. He kept hoping to hear Jace's footsteps, to hear anyone other than Valentine, to know that he would be freed in just a short amount of time. But when he heard Valentine's unmistakable footsteps, Simon couldn't calm his nerves in any way. He began to feel as though Jace's plan had gone downhill, as though there was no longer any hope for any of them.

Or at least, there was no hope for him. Simon barely heard Valentine as he began telling Simon about what was going to happen in his last few minutes of life. All he could think about was Isabelle. All he could think about was how they'd barely had any time together, how he'd never gotten the chance to love her in the way a soulmate was supposed to love. He had no idea of what Valentine was saying or doing, he just knew that he was consumed with fear. He wasn't scared of death, exactly, he was just scared of leaving Isabelle after so little time. The last thing Simon's mind let him see before he blacked out was Isabelle, and that was good enough for him.  
.  
.  
.  
When Simon woke up, he almost wondered if he was in the afterlife. But then he saw Jace's wrist and he realized what was happening and he knew that this had to actually be happening to him. He didn't mean to clamp down on Jace's wrist, but the hunger and the pain forced him to do so. When he somehow finally forced himself to release Jace, Jace's breathing was ragged, and Simon could only hope he hadn't gone too far. Without a word, Jace simply moved to rune himself with a rune Simon had never seen before. Then Jace motioned for Simon to follow him, and Simon did without a word, mostly because too many things were running through his head and he couldn't pick one of them to speak up about.

When they got on the deck of the boat, Simon registered the fact that the sun was going to come up at any moment. He registered the fact that, very unexpectedly, there were just as many Downworlders on the boat as there were Shadowhunters. But then he saw Isabelle. And he suddenly didn't care about any of that anymore. All he could think about was the fact that she wasn't hurt, the fact that he had just enough energy to run to her, to take her in his arms and finally kiss her. Simon hadn't had the courage to kiss her before, but none of the things he'd been worried about seemed to matter any longer.

The look on her face when she pulled away from him was not at all what he had been expecting, and it took him several seconds to understand what was going on. All she could seem to muster up the courage to say was, "Simon-" and then the sun came up and Simon was fairly certain that he was going to have survived Valentine's plan only to end up frying in the sun. Except he didn't. And then Isabelle's arms were around him tighter than they had ever been before, and Simon had no idea what was going on.

Simon turned to see Jace and Alec looking at him with the most puzzled of expressions, and he simply shrugged back at them, just as clueless as they were. "You're still bleeding," Isabelle said, pulling Simon out of his confused haze. "We need to get you somewhere where you can heal," she said, her voice soft in a way Simon had never heard it before. He let her lead him back to Magnus's; he let her sit him down while she fussed over him and Magnus healed the wounds that Valentine had made; he let her take care of him because he knew what it meant to her, because he knew he would have done the same if their rolls had been reversed.

When everyone had finally decided that he was well enough for them to stop worrying over, Isabelle wrapped herself in a blanket and moved to curl up beside of him. "I've never felt this content," Simon said, realizing that this was the first thing he had actually said since he'd woken up on the boat. "I've never felt this completely finally being with someone again." Simon realized that Alec was eyeing him in the brotherly way only Alec could ever seem to do, but he didn't care anymore. "I have no idea what's going on right now, but I do know that it's all going to be okay as long as you're by my side, Izzy."

Isabelle seemed happy to just let Simon say this, but Jace seemed to have other ideas. The grimace on his face told Simon that the plan must have been messed up somewhere along the line. "The sentiment is lovely, Simon, but I'm not entirely sure that everything will be 'okay' exactly," Jace said, his voice much more serious than usual. "We'll explain more about what happened later, but here are the facts you really need to know. Alec's plan worked and the Clave actually let Downworld help us, but even that wasn't exactly enough. So Valentine got away with the Mortal Sword, so now that he's got an army of demons at his control because of the Sword, there's no telling what he'll do next. Get all the rest you can tonight because we might have another battle on our hands tomorrow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it's been taking me so long to update things. I've been very busy, even though it's summer. I've been doing a lot of things for my resume this summer, and I'll be leaving again for three days in about a week. Then when I get back I'll have about a week before I leave again for a week. When I get back from that, I'll have two days before I move into my dorm and start work. So long story short, my updates my get kind of sparse, but believe me when I say that I'm not going to abandon my work!
> 
> As always, let me know what your thoughts are, and if you have any last requests for what you want to see me write before I stop writing altogether, just let me know! Love you all! Hope you enjoyed!


	15. Chapter 15: Isabelle

Isabelle wasn't a nervous person, at least not in general. But for some reason, their plans for the night made her ever so slightly anxious. They still didn't know what Valentine was planning to do, but until he made another move, the Clave had decided that they weren't going to do anything either. Hunting him down to get the Sword from him would be far too risky, not to mention seemingly impossible. So they opted on waiting, and for once, it seemed like the Clave was actually doing the right thing. Instead of worrying about what the Clave was doing or what Valentine might be doing, her entire family had been going about life much in the same way they had before Clary had come along and turned everything upside-down.

Except for the fact that things were so far from Isabelle's idea of normal that nothing would ever go back to the way it had been before. Jace had always been arrogant and a bit closed off, but ever since the whole ordeal with Clary had begun, he'd seemed to be much more so. Especially since Valentine had told them they were siblings. But Isabelle tried to ignore that as much as possible, knowing it was a very touchy subject for Jace. Alec seemed much more relaxed and happier now that he and Magnus were actually allowed to be together, and that made Isabelle infinitely happier as well. And Isabelle had to admit that she herself was now much happier with Simon in her life, even if he was a terribly annoying nerd at times. But she supposed that most soulmates were also constantly annoyed by one another, so she took that in stride as much as possible.

Yet their plans for the night were making her much more nervous than she would have thought possible. Everyone, including Ragnor and Raphael, was set to have dinner at Magnus's that night, but that wasn't what was making her so nervous. Ever since the trial, Max had been begging Alec to let him meet Magnus, and tonight was the night that Alec finally agreed. And Isabelle was just terribly worried about how this meeting might go. Unlike the rest of them, Max had very little experience around Downworlders, and throwing him into this situation was what worried Isabelle most of all.

Max and Alec had always had an easygoing relationship. Where Isabelle would say that Max worshiped Jace, she would say that he adored Alec. They'd always been terribly close; Alec was the one Max wanted when he was sick; Alec was the one Max wanted to help him with his training and lessons. It had always seemed to Isabelle like Max worshiped the idea of everything that Jace stood for, but when it came to his best friend, his closest confidant, that was Alec. And Isabelle couldn't help but be terribly worried that the situation with Magnus might change all of that.

"What's wrong?" Simon asked her as soon she left the Institute to meet him for the walk to Magnus's. She almost hated the way Simon could automatically pick up on even the slightest of her moods in a way that no one else could. "You look really tense for someone who's going to dinner with her family and friends." For several long seconds, Isabelle considered pushing her feelings away and simply telling Simon to ignore him. But she also knew that Simon would easily see through that, so she quickly explained all of the thoughts that were currently running through her mind.

When she had finished speaking, Isabelle registered the fact that they were about halfway to Magnus's as Simon seemed to take several moments to think about what she had said. "You're worried about Max, and that's fine," Simon said, his voice thoughtful and full of care. "But you and I both know that Alec is going to take care of him. And I have the strange feeling that Magnus is going to surprise us all with how wonderful he is with kids." Isabelle couldn't help but smile at that thought, but that didn't do anything to erase the anxiousness she felt.

And yet as soon as they walked through Magnus's door, Isabelle found herself wanting to smack Simon as he automatically leaned over to whisper, "I told you so." Alec was sitting on the couch beside of Ragnor, the two of them looking just as grumpy as ever. But Isabelle couldn't help but laugh when she saw the situation that was going on in the kitchen. Magnus, Raphael, and Max all seemed to be cooking together, wearing the most ridiculous of aprons, and laughing about just how terrible both Ragnor and Alec were at cooking.

"I honestly think Alec could burn water," Max said as Isabelle entered the kitchen. Magnus's laugh was hearty, and even Raphael's smile was surprising to Izzy. Now it made sense that Alec and Ragnor had retreated to the living room, and Isabelle quickly did the same, knowing that her cooking abilities were much worse than Alec's. "I would say you should teach him to cook, Magnus, but I think you'd actually have to waste more time putting out fires than you would with actual cooking." Isabelle was surprised to see the slight smile on Alec's face. When Alec's smile was wide, he was genuinely happy, usually in a surprised sort of way. But when his smile was slight, that was when he was at his happiest, that was when he was content, and that was the smile Isabelle always loved to see.

Everything went especially smooth until Jace and Clary finally walked through the door, and one glance at Alec was enough to confirm that it most definitely looked like they had been fighting. But they seemed to have agreed to set that aside for the time being, both of them simply going their separate ways as soon as they possibly could. But Isabelle couldn't help but notice that when dinner was finally ready, they sat as far away from each other as they thought they could without seeming suspicious. Yet from the look on Alec's face, they had done pretty terrible at not seeming suspicious.

Conversation at dinner seemed very innocent, at least until Simon had what was possibly the brightest idea he had had since they'd met. "Oh dear," he said, slowly setting down the bottle of blood he'd been sipping on. "Oh no, I completely forgot. Oh dear." Isabelle was fairly certain that she'd never heard Simon so concerned. "You're not siblings," Simon finally said, pointedly looking back and forth between Jace and Clary. The room was much quieter than Isabelle thought it would be, at least until Jace voiced his opinion that he thought Simon was insane.

That only launched Simon into his story of everything Valentine had told him before taking him to the boat. "He never planned for me to live long enough to see any of you again, so he told me everything." Everyone simply looked at Simon, most of them in open disbelief. "Why would I lie to you about this?" Simon finally continued, looking very specifically at Jace. "I'm the last person who would want to hurt Clary, and trust me when I say that I know exactly how much lying about this would hurt her. You're not siblings."

After what was an agonizingly long silence, Max was, very surprisingly, the first to speak up. "I believe him," was all he said, but he flung it at Jace with a force that Isabelle had never heard from him. Jace slowly blinked several times before he simply got up from the table without a word. It looked as though Alec was about to follow him when Magnus held up his hand. He looked as though he was going to say something, but then he quickly shot up from his chair, going to the door without another word.

Just as Clary got up to follow Jace, Magnus reentered the room, stopping her before she could skirt around him. "Sorry to ruin this heartwarming discovery, but we've got to go. Seems Valentine has struck again. This time in Idris." Alec was the first on his feet, but that wasn't very surprising to Isabelle. Alec was always the one who took charge, he was always the one who took care of them in almost any situation they found themselves in.

Getting back to the Institute and getting themselves into gear wasn't the problem. Getting themselves ready for whatever kind of battle they were now up against wasn't the problem either. Their biggest problem was that their parents were already in Idris. And no matter how hard they tried, both Magnus and Simon refused to stay behind. So that left absolutely no one to leave Max with. "I'm not a little kid, Alec," he was currently saying in the all too mature way he often did.

Before Alec could respond again, Isabelle tried to step in. "Listen to me, Max, just for a minute." Max simply nodded his head, his air of seriousness closely mimicking Alec's. "We're going to have to take you with us; we don't have another option. Mom and Dad would kill us if we left you here by yourself. But you're going to have to listen to absolutely everything we say. Whatever we tell you to do, you have to do. This is serious, Max. Even if Magnus or Ragnor or Raphael tells you to do something, you have to do it." Max nodded, and Isabelle was satisfied with their ability to take care of Max, but the look on Alec's face showed her that he was much less confidant.

"He'll be fine," Isabelle said as she moved to walk beside of him as Max ran to catch up with Magnus. "You and I both know that everyone here is going to keep him safe. Especially Magnus." Alec flashed her a weak smile, and Isabelle could tell he was trying his best to relax. "Come on, bro," she finally said, taking his arm and stopping him just before they went through the portal. "Let's go get the Sword back and end this once and for all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, let me know your thoughts! I love you all so much; thank you for all the support from you! You know I love hearing from you!


	16. Chapter 16: Ragnor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was actually not planned in any way, but I know you all probably won't believe me after reading it! It just sort of happened while I was in the middle of writing it, and it couldn't be stopped!
> 
> As always, let me know your thoughts! Enjoy!

The last thing Ragnor wanted to do was enter another fight. But that seemed to be the only option he had because the two people he'd ever cared the most about were in the middle of it. There was no way he'd ever let Magnus go into a situation like this alone, not to mention the fact that Raphael had been in Idris at the time of the attack. So Ragnor had no plans to even so much as rest until he contacted Raphael, and he knew that his mind would rest only when he was by Raphael's side. So following Magnus through the portal to Idris wasn't a very hard thing for him to decide to do. There was no decision for him to make.

The hardest part of the entire situation was that he knew Magnus would follow Alec to the ends of the earth, even if that meant being killed by Valentine or the Circle. "You're worried," Magnus said, his voice breaking Ragnor out of his thoughts and quickly pulling him back into reality. "But I promise you that the first person we'll look for is Raphael." After nearly three hundred years of friendship, Magnus was finely tuned into Ragnor's every last need and thought.

"You won't leave Alec's side long enough to search for anyone," Ragnor replied, only slightly joking. He couldn't blame Magnus for it, and he knew he never would. If their positions had been reversed, he certainly would have never left Raphael to look for anyone else; he would have forced Raphael to come with him. And Raphael likely would have complained the entire time. Magnus's only response was to chuckle and walk over to have a word with Alec. Ragnor wasn't the least bit surprised when Alec stated that he was going to help them look for Raphael.

The search for Raphael was much more nerve-racking than Ragnor had originally anticipated. Things had quieted down since Valentine's initial attack, but that had only given everyone time to gather the bodies of those who had been killed in that attack, and Ragnor couldn't even begin to keep himself from looking for Raphael in them. He couldn't exactly keep pulling down his pants to check that their tattoo hadn't faded, so searching for Raphael's face in the pile of bodies was Ragnor's compromise.

Ragnor whirled without a second thought when he heard Alec say Raphael's name, already running toward Raphael without really knowing exactly where he was. Relief flooded through Ragnor when he saw Raphael standing as out of the way as possible, talking to Luke as though he didn't have a care in the world. Raphael was obviously initially confused when he saw Ragnor, but he quickly erased that and replaced it with his own sort of relief. "What on earth are you doing here?" He asked, his voice raising several octaves, telling Ragnor that he was simply anxious about the situation as well. "Don't you know how dangerous this place is right now?"

Whatever Ragnor might have said in response was quickly replaced by several shouts that only confirmed Ragnor's suspicion that the Circle was attacking again. Raphael shot Ragnor a look that told him this was the exact thing he was talking about, but Ragnor didn't have time to deal with the irony of the situation at the moment. The only thing Ragnor had time to do was shoot Magnus an equally meaningful glance that told him to stick together. At times like these, he was entirely thankful for the fact that their centuries of friendship had given them enough of a connection to be able to understand each other when it mattered the most.

Much more quickly than Ragnor would have thought possible, Alec had located his siblings, getting them by his side with such ease that it was impressive. Ragnor watched with a breaking heart as Alec quickly moved to speak with Max, telling him exactly what he needed to do in order to stay safe. Ragnor knew Alec's anxiety all too well. Magnus was the closest thing to a brother Ragnor had ever had, and he couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen if he lost Magnus in this war. But at least Ragnor knew that Magnus was capable of fighting, that he was capable of taking care of himself. Max was still a kid, and Ragnor couldn't even begin to imagine how worried Alec was about Max's wellbeing in the impending fight.

"I know what you're thinking," Raphael said, stepping up behind Ragnor in an almost protective sort of way that Ragnor had never seen from him. But Ragnor could see in Raphael's eyes that he did, indeed, know that Ragnor was promising himself that he would help Alec protect Max during this war. "Just don't die in this fight," Raphael finished, moving to quickly, gently kiss him. Ragnor allowed himself to be swept away from reality for the few short seconds he and Raphael shared together before the first demon entered the building. The last thing he wanted to do was to pull away from Raphael's touch, but he knew that if they had any chance of survival that he would have to do so.

The first several minutes of the fight stretched on for what seemed like hours, and Ragnor worked on autopilot. Trying to keep his mind divided by so many things was a horrible task for the middle of a fight, but Ragnor did it anyway. His attention continually switched from Raphael to Magnus to Max and back again, the demons around him coming in second to his worry. Alec and Isabelle seemed to be doing very well at protecting Max, so over the course of the fight, Ragnor began relaxing, trusting that the others could keep him safe.

When Raphael cried out in pain, Ragnor's attention was automatically turned away from all the others. He could have felt Raphael's injury without hearing or seeing Raphael at all, their soulmate connection telling him that something had gone wrong. Ragnor turned to see Raphael on his knees, a Circle member holding up his seraph blade, ready to bring it down at any moment. Raphael's leg had been cut, bringing him down without a chance of getting back up in time, but Ragnor only registered that for a second before the full weight of the situation hit him.

Before Ragnor could so much as raise a hand to magic the Circle member's seraph blade away, he felt a sharp pain in his own leg, and he knew he was going down even before he hit the floor. Panic welled up inside of him, but it certainly wasn't panic over the demon that was currently attacking him. The only thought that filled his mind was the thought of Raphael, his fear for his soulmate taking over every inch of his body.

When Ragnor finally freed himself from the demon, he was shattered to see that the seraph blade was in motion, on its way to end Raphael's life in just a matter of seconds. And Ragnor knew that he didn't have the magical abilities to stop it, not from so far away, not with so little time, and certainly not after he'd been fighting for so long already. He wanted to shut his eyes, he wanted to stop moving and simply give up, to resign himself to the fact that he was losing Raphael and there was no way around it. And then there was a dagger, flying impossibly quickly toward the Circle member. Raphael seemed equally as surprised when the dagger found its mark with an almost terrifying accuracy.

The Circle member hit the ground long before he seemed to realize what had happened to him, but Ragnor was no longer paying attention to that. He traced the dagger's path backward as best as he possibly could, searching for the person who had actually saved Raphael's life. There seemed to be so few suspects, so few people who would actually care about Raphael's life that Ragnor had a hard time coming up with who it could have been. Magnus would have used magic; Alec would have used an arrow. So Ragnor was only slightly surprised when he saw Max, his arm still outstretched from throwing the dagger, seemingly in disbelief over what he had just done.

Ragnor didn't have time to do anything other than scramble to Raphael's side, quickly healing his leg before tending to his own wounds from the demon. Raphael shared a look with him that told Ragnor that they needed to thank Max later, that at the moment, they had much more pressing issues to turn their attention to. Like the fact that another demon was closing in on them, quickly followed by another Circle member. To Ragnor's infinite surprise, an arrow took out the Circle member for them, making their fight with the demon much easier.

The next few minutes of the fight seemed to fly by, Raphael falling into an easy sort of rhythm beside of him. Things were wholly uneventful, and Ragnor made the mistake of letting his guard down, of relaxing just enough to make things dangerous again. Ragnor saw what was about to happen, and jumped into action without a second thought. Both Magnus and Alec had their backs to the situation, and Isabelle and Jace seemed to be nowhere in sight, so Ragnor knew that if he didn't do something, that no one else would. The Circle members seemed to be trying their best to leave the children alone. The demons, however, were not even beginning to try.

And a demon was headed for Max at that very moment. Max was attempting to retreat, his eyes wide in fear, obviously having used his one and only dagger to save Raphael's life. Ragnor launched himself toward Max, sparks flying from his hands in his best attempt to distract the demon until he could get there. Max continued to step backward, nearly running into Magnus as he did so. Magnus whirled around, losing his footing and attempting to catch himself, but not doing so in time.

So Ragnor's only option was to continue forward, to continue with his plan. His only option was to reach Max before the demon did. Because the other options were ones that Ragnor refused to allow himself to think about. The only problem was that Ragnor actually did reach Max before the demon did. But only about a second before it did. And that single second wasn't nearly long enough for Ragnor to reorient himself or to do absolutely anything at all to defend himself from the demon. The only thing he'd actually managed to do was throw himself in front of Max and in the path of the demon.

He heard both Magnus and Raphael scream his name, he heard Max's cry for help, but he was powerless to do anything about the situation, and he very grimly understood that. So his mind quickly switched away from the demon and the situation at hand and moved to Raphael. Ragnor had no idea of what was going to happen, but he wasn't going to argue with his mind if it wanted to focus on Raphael just in case these were his final few moments.

The last thing his mind focused on was Raphael's smile. Something that was so rare, so hard to come by that Ragnor momentarily wondered why that was the one thing his mind wanted him to see. But none of the mattered when he felt the demon crash into him, sending him away from Max before he had the time to assess the situation. What Ragnor did know was that his thoughts about Raphael had only taken milliseconds, and his time was quickly running out. Ragnor wasn't surprised when he didn't hit the ground, pain so intensely slicing through him that he knew there was no turning back. Ragnor welcomed the blackness that washed over him, the image of Raphael's smile a stark contrast to the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There should only be a couple more chapters, I'm trying to finish this story as best as possible! I'm leaving again in a couple of days for about 4 days this time, so I'm not sure when exactly this will be updated, but just bear with me!


	17. Chapter 17: Raphael

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you all really think that you would get through almost 20 chapters of a story with me without a single death? I hope you didn't! You all should know better by now!
> 
> Sorry for this!

So when Raphael fell to his knees in pain, he wasn't the least bit surprised. He knew what had happened had only taken seconds, but it felt like it was stretching out for an eternity. The pain in Raphael's chest was almost unbearable, but he didn't care about his own pain in any way. The only person who currently mattered was Ragnor. And Raphael was entirely powerless to help him. The only thing Raphael could do was watch, trying to prepare himself for what he knew was coming.

Raphael felt his entire world shatter when the demon sunk its claws into Ragnor's chest with pinpoint accuracy. There was no mistake that the demon was going for the kill. Not when one of its talons landed directly in Ragnor's heart. Ragnor's death was immediate, and so was Raphael's pain. Before Ragnor had even hit the ground, Magnus was in action, all but shoving Max out of the way and launching himself to Ragnor's side.

But Raphael knew that nothing would be enough. The white-hot pain in his chest told him that much. Raphael had no idea what he was doing, he was hardly even aware of where he was in that moment. The only thing he could register was the pain. It was so consuming, so overwhelming that Raphael was entirely sure it was the only thing in his entire world at the moment. He heard Magnus screaming at him to get up, but he didn't register it.

Yet even if Raphael had registered what was going on around him, he wouldn't have cared in the slightest. He almost wanted the demons to come for him, he almost wanted to follow Ragnor to wherever he was now. But both Magnus and Alec apparently had very different ideas of what they wanted. Alec shot down the demon that was the most immediate danger to Raphael, sprinting to his side once he had made sure that Max was safe with Magnus. To his own surprise, Raphael didn't fight when Alec forced him to get up, leading him to the closest corner of the room.

Magnus and Alec shared a meaningful look before sitting Raphael down, Alec placing Max beside of him. They turned back to the battle, obviously planning on protecting Max and Raphael for however long was needed, keeping them in the corner so they no longer needed to worry about any attacks from behind. Their shared look told Raphael that they knew he was down and out, useless for the rest of the battle, too overcome with pain to be of any use at all. When Raphael finally slowly checked back into reality, he was pained to see that there were tears streaming down Max's face.

More than anything, Raphael wanted to blame Max for what had just happened. He wanted to find it in himself to hate Max. But the boy's face was full of such open and honest pain that Raphael couldn't find it in himself. He knew Ragnor had made his choice, that Max would never have asked Ragnor to do what he had done. But that didn't make things any easier to handle. That didn't mean that he could suddenly pick himself up and get back in the battle. That didn't mean that he could suddenly ignore the pain that was still washing over him in waves.

Raphael watched the rest of the battle in a distant sort of way, almost as though he no longer truly cared about its outcome. Which was technically true. He didn't care about the outcome of the fight because of himself, but there were still people he cared about locked in this battle, and that was the only thing Raphael was truly concerned about in any way. To everyone's surprise, the demons eventually retreated, and once the remaining Circle members saw this, they either retreated or surrendered.

When it was over, Raphael allowed himself to be led back to the Lightwood house; Magnus excused both of them from the meetings that the Clave apparently wanted to take place. Raphael couldn't help but push Magnus away when he tried to move to tend to Raphael's wounds. The last thing he wanted was to be fixed. Nothing could fix what had happened to Ragnor, and fixing his own body wasn't going to do anything for his pain. "Listen to me, Raphael," Magnus said, obviously trying to make his voice as stern as possible. "Ragnor wouldn't want you to keep yourself in pain just because you miss him."

Everything that Magnus was saying was terribly rational, Raphael knew it most certainly was. But that didn't keep Raphael from getting angry. "Do not speak to me of Ragnor or his wishes," Raphael replied, throwing all of his pain into his words. "Do not speak to me as if you understand my current emotions. You have no idea what this feels like, Bane. He was my soulmate, not yours. You were busy protecting your own soulmate when he died. Don't even begin to pretend you understand."

Raphael knew that what he was saying wasn't fair to Magnus, but he couldn't seem to keep himself from saying it, the grief he was feeling taking over everything. "Three hundred years together," was all Magnus said at first, his own grief all too evident. "If you want to suffer alone, then go ahead," he said, getting up from the couch and stepping around Alec when he tried to stop him. When Max walked up behind Alec, Alec quickly shuffled him away. Raphael wanted to tell Alec that it was okay, that Max could come talk to him if he wanted to, but the only thing Raphael could seem to do was sit there in silence.  
.  
.  
.  
When the others got back, Raphael still couldn't bring himself to leave the room, his energy still so depleted that he couldn't imagine going anywhere else. Just as everyone sat down to catch them all up on the night's events, Simon handed Raphael a bottle of blood. It came as such a surprise to him that he simply took it without a question. As he opened the bottle, Raphael noted the fact that Alec returned to the room, but Magnus had not.

Raphael halfway listened as Jace and Clary launched into their story about their own battle with Valentine. He had apparently finally admitted that Jace was, indeed, a Herondale, which clearly made Jace happier than Raphael had ever seen him. They recounted everything that had happened to them that night, Simon chiming in to recount his own part of the battle, saying that there was no way they would have even come close to surviving if the Downworlders had not continued to fight with the Clave. Raphael knew that never would have happened if it hadn't been for Magnus and Alec, but he kept his mouth shut, unable to do anything other than think about Ragnor.

Now that they knew Valentine was dead, the Clave was most certainly going to order another round of meetings, most likely to reevaluate the Accords as well as the laws surrounding soulmates. The only thing Raphael wanted was to go home, to get away from this place, to be able to give Ragnor the attention he deserved. And now he had no way of asking Magnus to find a replacement vampire representative for him. Because the thought of even speaking to Magnus at the moment was enough to make Raphael sick.

When Raphael finally got up from his seat, ready to attempt to get some rest, Simon stopped in his way. "You go home," he said without hesitation. "When the sun goes back down, you take Ragnor and you go home. Whatever representation the Clave needs from the vampires, I'll cover it." Before Raphael could protest, Simon was gone, and he looked over to see Max standing outside of the room that had been designated as Raphael's. Raphael internally sighed, knowing that, no matter how tired he was, he had no other option but to have the impending conversation.

"I'm sorry," Max said as soon as he followed Raphael into the room. Raphael's biggest problem at the moment was that he had no idea of what to do, that he wanted to comfort Max, but he barely even knew how to keep himself functional. "I never meant for this to happen. I never meant for anyone to get hurt. I tried to help and all I did was mess things up even more." Raphael was made momentarily speechless by the emotion in Max's voice.

Raphael bent down to Max's level, trying to steady his emotions before he began speaking. "You saved my life, Max. You didn't do anything wrong." Raphael held up his hand when Max looked like he was going to protest. "What happened to Ragnor was not your fault, don't ever think that. Ragnor made his decision, and now we all have to respect that." The last thing Raphael wanted to do was respect Ragnor's decision. Since the battle, he'd slowly become angrier and angrier with Ragnor, even though he knew that was the most illogical thing he could do.

"It's not your fault either," Max replied, his voice softer than it had been before. He was silent for several long moments, and Raphael couldn't come up with anything to say in response. "I hope that my soulmate has a heart as big as Ragnor's," Max finally said, lowering his eyes to the floor. Not for the first time that day, Raphael was entirely speechless, and he was fairly certain that remaining silent was actually the best course of action.

But before either of them could say anything else, Magnus walked through the door. "Go get some rest, Max," he said, his voice a soft mixture of grief for Ragnor and care for Max. Magnus didn't say another word; he simply sat down in the chair by the bed, but Raphael knew exactly what that meant. For some unknown reason, Magnus had forgiven him for what he had said, and Raphael had no idea why. Raphael sat down on the bed, eyeing Magnus, trying, and failing, to get some idea of how he was feeling.

"I'm sorry," Raphael said after several minutes of silence. "I may have lost my soulmate, but you lost your best friend." Magnus simply inclined his head, as if to acknowledge what Raphael had just said. "I can't be angry with Max because I know it's not his fault," Raphael continued, suddenly finding his voice after hours of silence. "And I can't be angry with you because I know you would have done anything in your power to protect him. I'm grasping for someone to blame, someone to be angry with. And the only person I can find any real fault in is Ragnor."

Magnus seemed to consider this for several moments, and Raphael became slightly anxious at the thought of what Magnus was going to say. "I'm angry with him, too, Raphael," Magnus finally, his voice terribly and fully resigned. "He knew what he was doing, and he did it regardless. I wouldn't trade Max for anything, and that only makes me angrier." At that, Magnus moved to reach out for Raphael's arm, and Raphael finally let him take it, hoping that healing it would help comfort Magnus in some way.

Raphael felt his heart drop when he realized there were silent tears streaming down Magnus's face as he began healing. Raphael wanted to stay silent, to let Magnus grieve, but, as usual, he couldn't seem to do the one thing he knew was probably best. "The worst part is that I know what Ragnor would say to me if he could," Raphael said, his voice much more even than he had thought it would be. "He would tell me that he had to do this because Max is just a child, that he had a nice long life and it was his time to give someone else the chance to live. But that's just it," Raphael paused for a moment, looking away from Magnus's tear-filled eyes. "His life wasn't nearly long enough. It took us a century to find out we were soulmates, and what did we get for it? A few meager weeks."

"Ragnor would also tell you that that century you two spent stumbling around wasn't wasted," Magnus said, a soft smile playing across his lips. "He would tell you that this past century has been the best century of his life, just because it had you in it, and you know that, Raphael. He would tell you that these past few weeks were worth the centuries leading up to them." The worst part was that Raphael knew Magnus was entirely right. "Get some sleep, Raphael. We can talk more about this later; you'll be able to deal with this much better once you've rested." Raphael doubted what Magnus was saying, but he moved to sleep regardless, hoping that Magnus was right for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm leaving again in the morning, but I plan to try to work on this a lot tonight as well as on my road trip. I think there will be one more chapter, but depending on its length, that might turn into two. The plan right now is to have a final scene from each character's point of view so that the story can be both caught up and wrapped up all at once.
> 
> Let me know your thoughts on this! You guys have stopped talking to me as much as you did before I left!


	18. Chapter 18: Epilogue Part 1

Raphael was walking around the small house just outside of Alicante mostly because he knew if he didn't try to occupy himself that he would end up back outside by Ragnor's grave. All he was waiting for now was for Magnus to arrive so that they could portal back to New York. He'd left Alicante before everyone else just for the purpose of bringing Ragnor to the one place Raphael could come up with to make his final resting place. Over the years, this had become the one and only place they could go and be themselves together without having to worry about anyone or anything else. Raphael had begun to look forward to the times he visited Ragnor here, but now all he wanted to do was get out of that house forever.

He felt like he was suffocating, Ragnor's absence pressing down on him as if he was underwater. Except that didn't make any sense because Raphael no longer needed to breathe, and yet here he was, feeling as though all of his breath had been taken away from him. Without Ragnor, the house felt cold and uninviting. Raphael had never realized just how much Ragnor truly lit up his world, but now, it was like everything was black and white. Color meant joy, and Raphael could no longer find any joy either within himself or around him.

Without really knowing where he was going, Raphael wondered into Ragnor's bedroom, a place he'd seldom been before. Raphael all but collapsed on the bed, reaching out for the coin that was on the nightstand beside of it. He clenched his fist around it, unable to bring himself to look at it. It was the coin he had given Ragnor for good luck. A lot of luck it had been. When Raphael finally looked up again, he wasn't at all surprised to realize that there were tears in his eyes, and he didn't try to wipe them away.

He felt a mixture of several emotions well up inside of him when he saw the picture that was sitting on the nightstand. It was a picture of him and Raphael standing outside of Magnus's favorite bar in Peru. They'd made the trip that summer mostly to annoy Magnus because he couldn't go with them, and they'd taken the picture just to have something to send back to Magnus and further aggravate him. Raphael had always loved the picture because they were both laughing in it, Ragnor having made a highly inappropriate comment about Magnus right before it had been taken. And it was the only picture Raphael had ever seen of himself in which he was genuinely happy, in which he was truly smiling for the joy of it.

Without really registering what he was doing, Raphael reached up and knocked the picture frame off the nightstand, sending it crashing into the wall. He heard the glass in the frame shatter, and he thought that was pretty fitting since he could feel his heart shattering into just as many pieces. Raphael was so focused on the fact that he felt like he was drowning that he didn't notice that Magnus had entered the room until he went to pick up the picture frame. "He talked about this trip for years afterwards," Magnus said, his voice much softer than it usually was. "You made him so much happier than anyone else ever did," Magnus finished, coming to sit beside of Raphael on the bed.

Magnus reached out and placed something in Raphael's hand, smiling in a heartbroken sort of way. "I got that off of him before you brought him here," he said, motioning toward the ring he had just given Raphael. Raphael recognized it as the one and only ring Ragnor had ever worn in his entire life, the ring that he had worn since his mother had died. "He would want you to have it," Magnus finished, reaching to take the picture out of the broken frame. "Just like he would want you to have this, even if it hurts right now."

Just as Magnus moved to get up off the bed, Raphael reached out to stop him. "Wait a second, I have a favor to ask of you." Magnus turned back around, his eyes wide with curiosity. "Our tattoo faded," Raphael said, his voice distant, almost detached. "I was going to see if you could magic another one for me, maybe right here?" he asked, pointing to his wrist. Magnus stared at him for several seconds before reaching out to take hold of Raphael's wrist without a word. The cross appeared on Raphael's wrist almost instantaneously, and with it, Raphael felt the weight on his shoulders lessen ever so slightly.  
.  
.  
.  
The last thing Magnus wanted to do was walk outside and say goodbye to Ragnor, but he knew it was the only thing left to do before heading back to New York. So he took a deep breath and followed Raphael out of the house, moving to Alec's side without a second thought. Alec had insisted on accompanying him, saying that he didn't want Magnus to be alone at the moment. Magnus was incredibly thankful for the way Alec seemed to be so understanding of his pain, always knowing what the right thing to say or do would be.

Magnus could only look at Ragnor's grave for several long seconds before he had to turn away. He knew his pain was nothing in compare to Raphael's, but after three hundred years with Ragnor by his side, he felt as though a piece of him had been ripped away. Magnus quickly turned back to the house, moving to lay several protective spells around it, knowing that he would have to come back soon and go through Ragnor's things. But right now the only thing he wanted to do was go home. He needed to be away from this, away from the thought of all he had just lost.

So Magnus worked on autopilot, protecting the house and making the portal without turning back to Ragnor's grave. As soon as they were back in New York, Alec took his hand and refused to let go, and Magnus slowly began to feel as though Alec was currently the only thing holding him up. As soon as they were alone, Alec sat Magnus down on the couch, going to feed Chairman Meow without being asked to do so. "Isabelle just called," he said as he came back in the living room. "Simon sent her a fire message saying the Clave is reevaluating its soulmate laws."

More than anything, Magnus wanted to be able to show his excitement and happiness to Alec. He wanted Alec to know just how much all of this meant to him as well, but the only thing he could currently feel was just how tired he was from his grief. Somehow, Alec seemed to register this, coming to sit beside of Magnus and taking his hand. "We can celebrate later," he said, moving to give Magnus a terribly gentle kiss before resting his head on Magnus's shoulder. "Personally, I'm very excited to see what kind of bond we get to have now and what kind of trouble we can stir up with it," he said, referring to the reason the Clave had forbidden Downworlder-Shadowhunter soulmates in the first place.

For the rest of the night, Magnus let Alec take care of him in a way he'd never let anyone take care of him before. It didn't make any sense, but somehow, Alec seemed to help him heal, even if it was ever so slightly. Alec didn't fill the hole that Ragnor had left, and Magnus knew that no one would ever be able to do that. But Alec seemed to sand down the sharp edges of it, to make the pain just a bit softer, a bit less overwhelming than it had been before. So Magnus forced his mind away from thoughts of Alec's mortality, and he focused on the feeling of Alec's arms around him until he finally drifted off to sleep.  
.  
.  
.  
Alec was terribly glad that he had had ample excuse to get out of the various Clave meetings that were going to be taking place over the next week or so. He didn't want to leave Magnus alone, and he certainly didn't want Magnus to have to deal with the Clave at the moment. Not after losing Ragnor. Not when his pain was so visible in every last line of his face, in every last movement he made. So Alec set about making Magnus as comfortable as possible, throwing everything he had in to trying to help comfort him in any way he could. Alec knew there was nothing he could truly do to help Magnus, but that only made things worse, that only made him want to try even harder.

The first full day they were home seemed like it was going to be the hardest. Alec was trying to tiptoe around Magnus, not wanting to do or say anything that might make things worse for him. And Magnus just seemed distant. It wasn't as though he was trying to pull away from Alec, at least, not on a conscious level. But he just seemed much further away than Alec could ever hope to reach.

So Alec didn't argue when Magnus urged him to go take care of himself for a bit. He desperately needed a long, hot shower, not to mention his need for many healing runes. The battle had taken a lot out of him that sleep had not replaced, so Alec didn't argue with Magnus, knowing that an argument would only make things worse. Alec sighed in relief as the shower loosened up his muscles, the runes taking care of the rest. He felt much more capable of taking care of Magnus now, much more capable of dealing with life in general.

Yet Alec stopped short when he walked back into the living room. For some reason that seemed beyond Alec, Magnus had a lot of the furniture pushed back to make more space in the middle of the room. Magnus got up from the couch as Alec walked in, holding out his hand. "Dance with me, Alexander," he said, his voice catching ever so slightly. "I might go crazy if we don't celebrate everything you've done for me," Magnus explained, smiling as Alec finally took his hand and stepped into his arms. Alec couldn't help but sigh in contentment at the feeling of being with Magnus, the pain and worry of the past few weeks washing away as soon as they came together.

"If anything, the past few days have made me realize just how lucky I am to have you," Magnus continued, his voice as soft as the music that had begun playing. "Four hundred years is such a long time to wait for your soulmate, and at first I was so angry that you kept it from me that I couldn't think of anything else. But losing Ragnor has made me understand just how quickly you can leave me, not to mention all that you have done for me to show me just how much you truly care." Alec closed his eyes at that, focusing on their movements, focusing on the music and the feeling of Magnus's hand on his arm.

Magnus suddenly went silent, and Alec opened his eyes to see Magnus watching him intently. "You, Alexander, are the single best thing that has ever happened to me," Magnus finally said, his voice betraying his every emotion. "And I intend to spend every day of the rest of my life thanking you for that." Their dancing stopped when their lips found each other, but Alec didn't try to fix that. When they finally pulled apart from one another, Alec was still terribly speechless. There were so many things he wanted to say in response to Magnus, so many emotions he wanted to express, but they were so overwhelming that Alec couldn't find any words worthy of them. So he simply wrapped his arms around Magnus and kissed him once more, allowing himself to get lost in Magnus's touch.


	19. Chapter 19: Epilogue Part 2

After two days full of Clave meeting after Clave meeting, the only thing Simon wanted to do was to go home. He barely understood how the Clave worked, and the meetings seemed to be going in endless circles no matter how much talking seemed to happen. Yet Simon refused to leave and pass the situation off to someone other vampire. Because the only person he would be able to pass it off to would be Raphael, and that was the absolute last thing Simon wanted to do. He'd ushered Raphael home for a reason, and he wasn't about to go back on his word.

He couldn't imagine how Raphael felt. The mere thought of losing Isabelle was enough to make Simon feel nauseous. Simon couldn't imagine watching his tattoo fade, knowing that it would never come back. It was a part of him, it was part of what truly made him who he was, and Simon knew he couldn't live without it. Knowing that the absence of the tattoo would mean the absence of Isabelle, the absence of a piece of his soul. So he planned to sit through however many more meetings he needed to if it meant giving Raphael the room he needed to grieve.

Yet all Simon could think about was getting home, especially now that he was in his last meeting. All he wanted was for the Clave to hurry so that he could get back to New York, back to Isabelle. But he knew that wasn't going to happen because this final meeting was going to be the longest one of them yet. This meeting was just for the purpose of remaking the laws regarding Downworlder-Shadowhunter soulmates, but Simon knew that this topic was going to be the most heated of them all. And Simon knew that he should be paying much more attention to this meeting than he currently was, that this meeting was the one that would actually make a difference in his life, but he couldn't seem to clear his mind of the events of the past few days.

The only thing Simon truly heard was the Clave's final decision. He knew that his say in the matter didn't make a difference in the end, so he'd remained silent, the Clave having enough to say on the matter without his input. But when they finally made their decision, Simon actually forced his attention on the meeting, knowing that this decision would make or break his life. Simon had expected to feel like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders when the Clave revoked the law that said Shadowhunters could not have Downworlder soulmates. But in the end, when this announcement was made, Simon truly didn't feel any different than he had before. He wanted to be excited, he wanted to feel different in any way, but he was so tired that all he wanted to do was relax.

So when the celebration began, Simon quickly snuck his way out of the room, not stopping to talk to anyone. Not that he really knew anyone that was there anyway. As planned, he found his way back to where Luke and Jocelyn were staying. Jocelyn was terribly silent as she went to send Magnus a fire message to let him know that they were ready for him to make a portal. He idly wondered whether Clary he fought with Jocelyn because of everything that had happened. Jocelyn hadn't been back for very long, and he was willing to bet that Clary had had just enough time to become angry with her mother.

Once they were back in New York, Simon couldn't even begin to figure out where to go. He knew he wasn't welcome at home any longer, and he couldn't set foot in the Institute. Simon was surprised when Luke pressed a set of keys into his hand. "Isabelle is already there," he said, giving Simon a look that urged him to go to his place. So Simon didn't argue; he simply left Luke and Jocelyn to whatever situation they were about to be in the middle of, but whether that involved Clary or not, Simon had no idea.

What didn't surprise Simon was when Isabelle threw her arms around him as soon as he walked through Luke's door. "Before I get distracted by you," Simon began, hoping he was doing the right thing. "You should know that the Clave changed the Downworlder-Shadowhunter soulmate law, and I want you to be the one to tell Magnus and Alec. It means more to them than I think we'll ever know." Simon sighed in contentment as Isabelle pulled him through the door, shutting it and pressing her lips on his in one swift movement.

"Magnus and Alec can wait until morning," she said, a terribly soft smile evident in her voice. "They need their rest, especially Magnus. I can't imagine losing Alec or Max or even Jace," she finished, the joy of seeing Simon slowly fading out of her voice. Simon hated hearing her happiness drain away, so he did the only thing he knew how and he took her in his arms, willing himself to make things right again. Simon didn't want to fall asleep so quickly, but as soon as his head hit the bed, Simon couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. "Goodnight, Simon," Isabelle said, moving to wrap them up together, just the way Simon felt they were meant to be.  
.  
.  
.  
Telling Magnus and Alec about the change in the law was just as wonderful as Isabelle had imagined it would be. She had been worried that the news wouldn't make Magnus as happy as it could have, but he seemed to be just as happy as any of the rest of them, despite the pain she knew he was still feeling. Yet the best part of it was the fact that Alec's smile was the widest Isabelle felt she had ever seen it. Magnus shared a very meaningful look with her that told her he was thinking the same thing about Alec's happiness and then proceeded to invite her and Simon to stay for dinner.

Isabelle knew this was Magnus's way of celebrating without being extravagant about it, that this was his way of showing how happy he was without feeling as though he was ignoring his grief. So in the end, Isabelle ended up on Magnus's couch, sandwiched between Simon and Alec, eating Chinese takeout because no one had been up to the task of actually cooking. "You're not wearing your whip," Alec said between bites, his voice more thoughtful than anything else.

"I've got seraph blades on me just in case," Isabelle replied, knowing that her smile was evident in her voice. She was surprised, however, when Simon reached over to take her hand, automatically turning her wrist over so that he could move to gently kiss her tattoo. Isabelle was slightly unsure of what to do at first. Simon had never shown this sort of affection in front of anyone else before, and, even though she knew Magnus and Alec wouldn't have anything to say about it, it still brought her up short for several seconds.

And then Isabelle found herself moving to gently kiss Simon, despite knowing that Magnus and Alec were most likely watching them in a very amused way. "I guess that's all the explanation I needed," Alec said when they had finally pulled apart. It had been so long since Alec had felt comfortable enough with almost everything going on that he had joked in such a way, and Isabelle took that as the best sign possible. So she did the only thing she knew to do and she reached over to playfully smack him, making a face at Magnus when she saw the look he was giving them.

When Magnus decided that they were going to watch a movie, Isabelle decided that this was the absolute best way she could spend the day, even if she had had other plans for it. So she snuggled up against Simon and lost herself in the feeling of finally having her soulmate by her side. The only thing that distracted her from the movie was the fact that Simon started absentmindedly rubbing his thumb over her tattoo, as if he wanted to keep reminding himself that it was there. Eventually, Isabelle moved to do the same to Simon, resisting the urge to kiss him again when he realized what was going on, when he smiled so wide she felt as though nothing could separate them again.  
.  
.  
.  
When Valentine had finally admitted that he was not Jace's father, Clary had felt like a million weights had been lifted off of her. Falling for Jace and finding out that he was her brother would have been one thing, but having her brother and her soulmate wrapped up into the same person would have been another thing entirely. No matter how many times people told her that the soulmate legend also included platonic soulmates, Clary simply couldn't buy into it. Not when it came to her relationship with Jace. She refused to believe that her one and only soulmate wasn't going to be her soulmate in a romantic way. And for once, she'd actually been right.

But the time between when Valentine finally admitted this and the time that she was actually able to speak to Jace again, to be alone with him and finally get started on working things out seemed to stretch on forever. By the time they'd finally gotten home, Clary had been so exhausted that she hadn't felt like finding Jace, she hadn't felt like doing anything other than going to bed for as long as it took for her to feel less like she'd brought the fight home with her.

As soon as Clary woke up, she changed and cleaned herself up as quickly as possible, the thought of finding Jace the only thing taking up any room in her mind. She wasn't at all surprised to find him playing the piano, but she was surprised to hear that he was playing something she had never heard before. And that it was quite possible one of the most beautiful pieces of music she had ever heard. All Clary could seem to do at first was stand and listen, feeling like she was on a journey with the music.

"I wrote it for you," Jace said, not turning away from the piano to look at her. "I couldn't sleep last night, and I kept trying to come up with what I wanted to say to you now that this nightmare is over. And in the end, this is what my mind kept going to," he finished as Clary came to sit beside of him on the piano bench. "I didn't know of any other way to truly show you how I feel," he said, his voice catching ever so slightly, telling Clary that he was unsure of how she felt about the music.

"It's perfect, Jace," she said, reaching to take hold of his hand where it rested on the piano keys. "I wouldn't want anything else." She tried, and knew she failed, to hide the smile in her voice. But she was still surprised at the look on Jace's face when he finally turned toward her. It seemed like Valentine's admission had only made him open up, had made him finally begin to take down the wall he'd been building between them. He was so openly showing his emotions in a way that he never had before that it almost took Clary's breath away at first.

"We should talk about what happened," Jace replied, his voice distant as though his mind was on a million things at once. And knowing Jace, it most certainly was. Clary simply nodded, moving to walk to the couch, hoping that Jace would follow without being asked to. She could feel her heartrate rising, and she tried to calm herself down, telling herself that nothing Jace could say would be worse than the things that they had already been through.  
.  
.  
.  
Jace tried to steady himself by taking a deep breath, but he knew that would almost be useless even before he did it. The only person he'd ever been able to be completely open with was Alec, and even then he and Alec still kept things from one another, just the way he knew brothers usually did. But this time, he wanted things to be different, almost needed them to be different. So he dove in without thinking too much, worried about talking himself out of it if he took too much time. "You and I both know how skeptical I was of this whole legend," he began, forcing himself to keep his eyes on Clary even though he was far more nervous than he knew he should have been.

"But, Clary, I have to admit that you've swept me off my feet in the best way possible," he continued, playing with the ring he'd put on his finger despite himself. "All my life I believed that my parabatai bond with Alec would be the only sort of bond that could ever change me in any way. I forced myself to believe that this soulmate legend was nonsense because I wanted so desperately to be in control of who I was bonded to." Jace absently reached for Clary's hand then, slipping off her own ring so that he could look down at her tattoo.

"If I'm being honest now," he continued, forcing himself through the rest of what he wanted to say. "I have to admit that you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I wouldn't trade my parabatai bond for the world. But this bond with you is so much better than anything I could have ever chosen for myself." Jace finished speaking and looked down at their hands then, smiling ever so slightly at the contentment he found every time he looked at Clary's tattoo.

Clary was silent for several long moments, but only in a contented way, so Jace simply waited on her to speak when she was ready. "I won't pretend to know what a parabatai bond is like," she finally said, a smile slowly spreading across her face. "But if I've learned anything since I stumbled my way into the Shadow World, it's that there's a reason we're soulmates. It's that, no matter what happens, I'll make it through all of this as long as you're by my side. I don't know a lot about this soulmate thing, but I can't wait to learn from you."

Jace couldn't keep himself from moving to kiss Clary. After so many days of having to stay away from her, of having to be so careful because of how he felt for her, Jace had to allow himself to let go. He willed himself to be lost in her. He willed himself to let go of the pain of the past few weeks, of all the worries and heartache and misery that he'd felt. And in the end, it finally worked. For the first time in his life, Jace felt everything he'd been bottling up simply release. And not in the way it did when he was in battle, not in the way it did when he finally argued with Alec after days of keeping things inside. It felt like everything was suddenly lifted from him in the most peaceful of ways. And that's when Jace decided that he finally believed in the legend. So he did the only thing he knew how and he kissed Clary again, smiling against her lips at the very thought of what was yet to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm lowkey very sad that this story is finally over, even though I feel like I've been writing on it for my entire life. Some of you have asked about Sebastian and the rest of the story so here's my response to that: At this point, consider this story finished and wrapped up completely. BUT it may not stay that way. I could definitely write a squeal to this because I have a lot of ideas about Sebastian as well as Camille and some of the others that I didn't include in this. But don't worry about that right now, just let it be.
> 
> Let me know your thoughts on this story! I love hearing from you guys! And let me know if you have any suggestions about what you want to see me write!

**Author's Note:**

> I would love to hear your thoughts on this! There's most likely going to be at least one chapter from each character's point of view, including my babies, Ragnor and Raphael! There may be more, but until I get into it, I won't really be able to say how much more!


End file.
